


Kingdom Hearts: Lock of Fate

by BabyRodent



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adventure, Coming-of-age, Danger, Friendship, Gen, Keyblade, No Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-08 23:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 106,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyRodent/pseuds/BabyRodent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"To find is to craft, to craft is to find..." A young girl without a past, a quest to piece her memories together, and a power that can mend her or break her. But she will find that there is much more to her past than just her identity... Using the help of a Knight and a Gummi Ship pilot, she will use her powers to change her life and find what she has been missing. Taking place between "Kingdom Hearts II".</p><p>I do not own the series or any of the characters except for Fusa. Make sure to review, let me know what you think of the story.<br/>And yes, it will be very long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is the prologue to "Kingdom Hearts: Lock of Fate". This has been brought over here from FF.net, though I was hoping to expand my audience to here as well.
> 
> Please keep in mind that there will be no romance between the original character or any of the canon characters of "Kingdom Hearts". I know it's common, but I want to stay true to the real theme of the game series, which is friendship. With that said, let's get started with the story!

" _To find old Memories is to craft new Memories. To lock new Memories is to unlock old Memories. To find and unlock, to craft and lock… that depends if I want to even believe them at all."_

* * *

The stars of the study of the retired Keyblade Master glowed brightly as he was reading one of his books to pass the time quietly. He was a skilled sorcerer at best: patient, careful with his craft, and stern. He was an elderly man in blue with a starry hat, dark eyes, and a gray beard that reached to his elbows. One thing he was not, however, was forgetful.

As he was reading, a woman in blue with dark hair opened the door and poked her head inside the study. The man lifted his head, looking at her before nodding once, allowing her to enter into the study. The woman carefully pushed the door open all the way before entering with an enveloped letter in her hands, bringing it forward and holding it in front of him.

"It's from your former student, Master Yen Sid," she spoke as he closed the book and accepted the letter. "He says it's very urgent and he wants you to make a response to his wife once you read it."

"Thank you, Merryweather. I will make note to make a response to the Queen," he answered to her, politely dismissing her. With that, she curtseyed and exited out of the study, her blue tinted wings twitching out of concern before she closed the door behind her.

Upon Merryweather's exit, Yen Sid examined the envelope carefully- no doubt from the King, his mouse-shaped stamp is on the envelope- before opening it carefully and pulled out the letter inside. Then he began to read it to himself.

" _To Master Yen Sid,_

_I have news on Sora's whereabouts. He's currently in Twilight Town and in a deep sleep, ready to regain his memories. According to DiZ, a good friend of mine who's working with Sora's friend and a colleague, he needs to get the only person that could hold onto his memories in the meantime. He told me that he's prepared a digital version of the town to keep this person occupied in the good life until Sora's ready to wake up. This way, the Nobodies won't suspect anything._

_However, to my knowledge, he's set up two versions of the digital Twilight Town. The one I told you about is for the person containing Sora's memories; the other is actually different. DiZ told me that this one is harmless- a 'Newborn Nobody'. He hasn't told me what exactly it is, but he's kept it a hefty secret for some time now. What he did told me, however, is that he wants the Nobody to be protected from the Organization's sights until it's ready for training to wield the Keyblade._

_Send word to my Minnie to send out two companions for the Nobody where they can meet in Traverse Town to accompany it. I hope that one day, all worlds can be safe and that Light would become free._

_Sincerely,_

_King Mickey"_

Upon reading the letter, Yen Sid used his magic to get out a piece of paper, some ink, and a quill to make a response. He knew that this was urgent and that a proper response was needed to handle the situation needed.

"A Newborn Nobody… how curious," he mused to himself, wondering if anything like that could even exist. Nonetheless, he took grip of the quill and dipped it into the ink pot before writing a response.

" _To the Queen,_

_I have received word from your husband about the Keyblade wielder's current condition. He is in Twilight Town in DiZ's care for the moment. All he needs to do is to house two subjects into two different virtual deceptions the town he has created to protect them from Organization XIII. One of them being a carrier of Sora's memories; the other is a Newborn Nobody of unknown origins. The latter would be brought to my care to start its training as a Keyblade wielder as soon as possible._

_The King has requested that two of the castle's residents must be sent to Traverse Town to accompany the Nobody in its training. As for Sora and his companions, they are in safe hands for now._

_The Keyblade wielder will wake soon. Another will be reborn._

_Sincerely,_

_Master Yen Sid"_

With that, he used his magic to carefully fold the letter and placed it inside the envelope, closing it and placing a star shaped seal to keep it closed. Using concentration to focus, he then closed his eyes and left the letter floating before causing it to disappear with a flash of light. All he needed to do now was to wait for a response from the Queen.

Little did he know that she would get the letter sooner than later…

* * *

At the curved and bright Disney Castle, home to the Queen as she is waiting for her husband to return and her lady-in-waiting to keep an eye on her, the letter was found by the castle's dog. He had a golden yellow fur with a green collar and a bone-shaped nametag that simply spelled out "Pluto", the name of the dog. He spotted it and inspected it with his nose before picking it up with his teeth and rushing over to the library of the castle, where the Queen was at. Normally, she would be in the throne room, but since she feared the creatures of corrupted hearts, otherwise known as the Heartless, would come here, she would not take any chances.

Upon seeing Pluto with the letter, the Queen stood and walked over to receive it from him. Although she was sadden that it was not from her husband as hoped, she was at least relieved that it was from someone that knows him.

"Thank you, Pluto," she spoke to Pluto as he made a bark in response, allowing her to open the envelope to read what she had gotten.

She realized that there is hope yet and hurried out of the library to take risks that the Heartless would be waiting for her. Luckily, there were not a single Heartless there for now; instead, there was her lady-in-waiting, Daisy, and a Royal Knight with silver armor and a red outfit underneath waiting for her. A year ago, the castle's Mage and Captain of the Royal Knights had left to travel with the wielder of the Keyblade and have not been heard from since then. This had caused concern between both Daisy and the Royal Knight, who was the Captain's only son named Max. For Daisy, the Mage was her boyfriend; for Max, however, his father had been gone for a long time without warning and without news if he was alright.

"I just received word about the King from Master Yen Sid, my friends," the Queen spoke to them as she held the letter in her hands. "He told me that Mickey has given word of the Keyblade wielder's current whereabouts. He told me that a close friend of his has taken him in and that another wielder would be training under Master Yen Sid. However, he wants the wielder to be protected and have a couple of friends sent to Traverse Town to meet up with them."

"I'll go, Your Highness," Max stated as he stepped in voluntarily. "I know I'm not supposed to leave yet. But since Dad left, I had gotten worried for him. Maybe the new Keyblade wielder would know where he is." He never said this before- mostly because he thought of his father as an embarrassment. Yet in this time of crisis, Max only needed to worry for his father's whereabouts like a son would.

"What about you, Daisy?" the Queen asked her friend, to which the lady-in-waiting responded, "Minnie, I have to stay here to help you out. Besides, I'm not much of a fighter anyway."

Then a voice with attempts of being brave piped up: "I'll fill in for the second part, Your Highness." Though Max and Daisy jumped in surprise by the piped-up voice, the Queen, on the other hand, was not worried a bit.

"Thank you, Gus, for your decision," she kindly stated to a flying creature with a bushy mustache and an aviator scarf. He was Gremlin Gus, one of the Gummi Ship flyers and the castle's mechanic, who was welcomed into the castle along with his kind after their world was destroyed. Since then, they became obedient into controlling the Gummi Ships.

"It is the best I could do, especially with the King being absent for the moment," Gus responded as he bowed at the Queen.

"The King requests that you and Max must go to Traverse Town to meet with the next Keyblade Wielder immediately," she instructed to both volunteers carefully as they listened carefully. "Or at least until Master Yen Sid gives word of their presence at the Tower. However, it needs to be your responsibility that the two of you protect the wielder."

She turned to Max and asked him, "Sir Max, are you equipped with defense like your father?"

He answered back with confidence, "Yep- I mean, yes, Your Highness."

She looked at Gus and asked him as well, "Gremlin Gus, is there anything you could do?"

He answered to her, "Besides fly the Gummi Ship? I could try to keep the wielder on the right track, like my friend did with Sora."

"That will be all right with me," the Queen responded with a nod of approval. She then looked at the two and stated to them as Daisy joined her at her side, "I would have to recommend the two of you to start preparing immediately and wait until for the next word from Master Yen Sid on what to do next."

They stood- for Gus, he floated- in attention and nodded in understanding on what the Queen told them. Max, on the other hand, made a new suggestion.

"Why not going to Traverse Town now to save time?" he asked the Queen.

She frowned and looked down with uncertainty. The last time there had been news about Traverse Town's condition, only the temporarily visitors of destroyed worlds returned there, leaving the town infested by Heartless. That was it; now she feared that it would become a ghost town of Heartless. Having Max and Gus go now, she feared, would prove to be a daunting task for their survival.

"Right, sorry about that," Max apologized to the Queen upon noticing her distress, knowing that he shouldn't ask that question.

* * *

Inside a basement room under a mansion, a man in red was typing codes into the multiple and brightly lit computer screens as a figure in black watched. These screens, the latter noticed, provided the only light in the dark room, if not dimly. The codes, on the other hand, provided secrets to what the man in red called to be his "greatest work yet". Whether or not he was right has yet to be determined. He knew that keeping the Keyblade wielder and his companions inside of their pods to retrieve their memories would give them time to grow, yet their memories would be nothing more than running wild. He just hoped that the little witch would hurry with her work and not dilly-dally.

"Do you know the whereabouts of Sora's Nobody at the moment?" the man in red asked the figure in black.

"Not to say I do- he could be here," the figure answered humorously. Then he asked the man in red, "What about the Newborn Nobody, DiZ? What's its condition?"

"The Newborn is sleeping for the moment, but the vitals are functioning and aware. A sleep like that seemed forever in a day. No matter; it will wake when it's ready."

"But when we found it, you acted as if you saw it before…"

DiZ looked down at the keyboard and lingered for a moment. The figure could be correct, as much as he didn't want to admit it. Yet there is work that needed to be complete, so he brushed the lingered moment off and continued with typing in the codes. He used one to check on the status of a figure laying in the dark ground. In the status, the pulse was steady and its breath was stable. In another status of another figure, things were appearing bleak. DiZ lowered his head in thought before turning to the figure in black.

"Find his Nobody and bring him here alive," he instructed to the figure. "Do whatever you need to do to accomplish this task."

"What about the Newborn?" the figure inquired.

"Leave the Newborn Nobody to me. Once it wakes, the town will be ready. However, there is no question that it will live the life that I created for it, with or without its original memories… if it even has memories to begin with."

Without question, the figure turned and left the room, heading out from the library, leaving DiZ in the room alone. He mused to himself if he could have said the last part a little differently, but shook it off.

A computer voice then notified to him: " _Revival at 95%._ " He looked up to see the Newborn Nobody's status on the screen, smirked, and pressed a button, allowing the codes to take shape around the Nobody. He knew that it would wake soon.

* * *

Inside the infinite of the darkest space, a body floated down without anything or anyone to catch it. It was a female of the age of 14, wearing nothing but white undergarments and a silver gray helmet on her head. Forever floating without any support, yet not dead. She was still in a deep slumber; triggered by an amount of time given for growth of only the body.

Within this empty space was an infinite podium, where the body gently floated on it after its time in the emptiness. The podium was blank white and keyhole shaped, nothing to represent her memories- or at least if she even had memories.

An unknown voice beckoned her: " _Wake._ "

She slightly lifted her head, yet the weight of the helmet urged her otherwise to lower it down again.

The voice beckoned again: " _Wake. You have slept enough._ "

The figure lifted her head, her body following as she sat on the podium on her knees, looking down on the ground and her knees.

" _You are in your consciousness, where you can't tell if you are good or bad. Thoughts of having moral codes escape your mind, yet you yearn for the truth. Ah, you do not know that?_ "

The figure didn't respond verbally or with her head.

" _Good. That is expected of you. It's your nature, of course._ "

She only lifted her head to the emptiness before lowering it again.

" _You're nothing more than an anonymous face. Always will be. However… you can change that._ "

In listening to what the voice said, the figure lifted her head and paid attention to what it had to say. As this happened, the helmet began to break off of her head with a silent crack at the top.

" _In your rebirth, you will encounter people and objects that are unknown to you. Some will protect you, others will want your life. In that rebirth, you'll know the truth. The truth that lies within your hidden memories. However, the task to uncover lost memories will not be an easy one._ "

As the voice spoke, the crack reached to the base of her neck and to the top of the helmet's dark lenses as she looked down again.

" _To find lost memories, you must create new memories from your presence. Resisting the chance to craft will cause a shift in your path of identity. However, there is a price to be paid for your chance to create those memories. The price will be left in your hands whether or not you want it. To find is to craft, to craft is to find…_ "

Once the crack reached to the front of the helmet, it then broke off in twain and fell to the blank podium. From the fallen of the split helmet, a set of long platinum blonde hair reached down to the ground, a few strands sprawled on her hands and knees.

" _But now is the time for you, little one, is to end this infinite slumber and start anew. It is time to wake._ "

When the voice beckoned this, the girl lifted her head and opened her eyes of light pink, staring into the endless void.

* * *

In the dim room, DiZ noticed that the figure on the computer screen was twitching her fingers slightly and created a steady face to himself as he typed in codes for another stimulation in the computer.

"Time to wake up, little one, and have some fun with your friends while you still can."


	2. Chpt. 1- Twilight Town: Thieves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The young Newborn Nobody, a 14-year-old girl named Fusa, begins her life in a world she *thinks* she knows well. But things are not what they seem to be for her...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the big delay! But anyway, here is the first chapter.
> 
> On thing to note is that Fusa is, in fact, an Original Character, but I will NOT have any romance between her or any of the canon characters in the story. Mostly because I don't want to endure the wrath of fans everywhere. But I digress.

-1st Day-

Within one of the quiet parts of Twilight Town, where the sun can forever be between day and night, lived a young 14 year old girl laying in her bed near the closed window after a good night's sleep. In the small room, shelves of books and a dark turquoise desk with numerous coloring pencils, drawings, and wooden mannequins cluttered the nooks and corners of the area. It was evident that the town, its people, and small cat toys were her favorite topics to draw. Well, a little too much, as evident by the massive amounts of drawings. Still, she didn't mind at all as long as there was still space left for her to draw more.

_Mere figments to the mind._

The girl herself had a braid of long platinum hair slumped on her right shoulder when she sat up on the bed. Her eyes were light pink in appearance, opposite of her mint green pajamas with bright yellow stars on the shorts. Her top, a tank top no less, only had a single yet outlined star at the center as sharp contrast to her shorts. However, she seemed extremely chipper in the morning- she merely looked at her room before bringing her right knee in and wrapping her arms around it, close to her chest carefully.

Then a trio of voices caught her attention. She whipped her head to the window, where she opened it and peeked out. It is there that she saw a trio of teens, two guys and one girl, waiting for her below. No doubt they were her friends.

_Mere figments to the mind._

"Fusa, you comin' down now?" the blond boy in camouflage pants called to her.

"We're gonna be late!" the black-haired boy with a red shirt added.

"This is very important!" the brunette girl in orange clothing also added.

"I'll be down, guys! Let me just change first!" the girl, Fusa, called back to them before going back inside and closing her window. Once she watched them leave, she was able to get out of bed and to her closet. She knew that today would be the start of the first day of the week and one of the final days of summer vacation.

* * *

 

Once she found a suitable outfit to wear, along with a cat toy to keep her focused and her dark backpack, Fusa was out and into the cobblestone streets with a smile on her face. The outfit itself was made up of her long sleeved pink jacket with a pair of vertical zippers on the front on below her elbows and at the front of the jacket. In it was a light gray camisole and a pair of white shorts with a dark belt around her hips along with a pair of dark boots. Around her neck was a silver heart locket with a keyhole at the center. It was an interesting trinket of hers- she couldn't remember if it was given to her as a present or passed down from a family member. Still, it remained close to her dearly. 

She wanted to be optimistic now that summer vacation is drawing to a close, not wanting to be sour. Still, she had to keep reminding herself on the sad reality of this endless summer coming to a close. After that, it would be a return to school. As she walked on the tiles lighted by the sunset, Fusa began her walk to her friends' local hangout they call the "Usual Spot". In her walk, she looked up at the clock tower of the Train Station and smiled. She always greeted "hello" to it mentally whenever going somewhere in the town. In her walk into town, however, citizens that were hustling about stopped and stared at her with suspicions in their eyes. Some closed up shop, others turned their backs with disgust. Fusa thought that it was unusual for the citizens to do that- perhaps it was something they ate. 

Nonetheless, she arrived at the Usual Spot, albeit a minute late. The brunette-haired girl was standing and waiting outside of the Spot's entrance for the group's younger member. Fusa noticed the girl waiting and approached her with a smile. 

"Sorry I was late, Olette," Fusa apologized with an innocent chuckle to the brunette upon stopping at the sight. 

"Well, at least you're here," Olette responded with a sigh before turning her sight to inside of the Usual Spot. "Hayner was about to throw a hissy fit when you didn't show up within the first thirty seconds. But we have more things to worry about." 

"What type of 'things', Olette?" Fusa inquired curiously, cocking her head slightly to the side. 

"Hayner would explain it once we get inside." 

Once Olette said this, both of the girls went inside of the hangout and met up with the boys, Hayner and the black-haired boy, who were sitting in collective places; Olette sat down on the sofa and Fusa joined on the other side of the sofa next to her. Inside, the group began their first discussion of the day. Normally, it would on summer vacation ending; this time, it would be entirely different. Discussions, as Fusa would know, were not exactly her strongest suit. She prefer to play with her cat toy rather than take part of these "pointless" discussions, unaware that her distracted mind had annoyed Hayner to no end. The cat toy, which was a ball with a bell inside of a smaller ball, had a distinct ringing sound that was a little too cute for those to comprehend. Still, the group had to ignore the jiggles and proceeded to talk about the topic first and foremost important.

"Seifer's gone way too far this time," Hayner started as he bitterly crossed his arms with discontent. 

"Seriously, though… why would he do that to us?" the black-haired boy responded in agreement with a nod. Olette did not pitch in her answer nor did Fusa though for different reasons alone. 

"Here's the main problem with Seifer: he's always finding a way to make us look bad by making **us** the suspects to a crime," Hayner began to rant with hints of anger.  "This wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that the whole town and their mother are treating us as if we're kleptos or something!" 

As he rambled, Fusa was throwing her cat toy in the air, thus emitting jiggles from the inner bell. 

"This is probably the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened in our lives, since it-" Hayner continued before he stopped and glared at a distracted Fusa. The black-haired boy jumped off from his seat and was ready to restrain his friend from attacking. Olette, on the other hand, grew anxious on what he would do. 

"Excuse me, Fusa, I'm trying to say something here!" Hayner called to the young blonde as she stopped and looked at him with a questioned expression. As soon as she stopped, the cat toy dropped to the ground. 

"As I was saying," Hayner said as he picked up where he left off as the black-haired boy made a sigh of relief and sat back down. "This is probably the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened in our lives, since it happened when we least expected it. We don't exactly know what was stolen, but we did not even lay a finger on it! Now, what to do…" 

The black-haired boy and Olette only turned their attentions to each other before looking at Fusa for suggestions. She was close to picking up her cat toy, but paused at seeing her friends looking at her. Nonetheless, she shook her head as a "no" without a suggestion to mind. When she shook her head in response, both kids turned their attention back to Hayner for what he would have to say next. 

"Anyone have suggestions as to what should we do about this?" Hayner asked his friends as he placed his hands on his hips. "Pence? Olette? Fusa?" 

"The obvious would be an investigation around town to find out what was stolen in the first place," the black-haired boy, Pence, answered with an idea. "I know that the town thinks we did it, but we wanted to prove ourselves true and fair. Something like that." 

"We could find the stolen object ourselves," Olette added in her suggestion as the others listened to her. "After all, we have maps that can take us around town." 

So the rest of the three kids turned their attentions to Fusa to see if she had anything to say about the situation. She only exchanged their attention to her with her own to them without a word at first. Fusa always considered simple solutions to complex problems as the key to hope in dire situations. Now a simple problem would be different. Still, she was needed to pitch in with her suggestion. 

"Perhaps we can make peace with Seifer and his Committee," Fusa suggested with high hopes to her friends, "They could help us find the real thieves and the stolen article. Perhaps they can also let the town know that we are innocent, too." 

Pence and Olette looked at each other with confusion by the suggestion, though the former seemed interested in the idea. Hayner, however, sneered by the idea of making peace with Seifer, of all people. 

"Peace? With Seifer?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow at her.  "This guy makes us look like morons yet you suggest to make peace with him?"

"Well, how about this: We should investigate the town for answers and clear our names for innocence," Pence began to explain with an idea as the others listened to him. "If Seifer and his gang tries to give us trouble, we'll go with Fusa's suggestion to make attempts for peace with them." 

"And if that doesn't work?" Hayner inquired with his arms crossed. 

"Then you can fight him," Pence unenthusiastically answered, rolling his eyes without a hint of impression. 

Fusa, on the other hand, grew concerned of a brawl in public between the two groups. A brawl that would lead to a possible turf war and perhaps criminal charges- all before the start of school. 

Still, it would be settled; the group were able to stand and make their way into town. While Hayner, Pence, and Olette made an exit out of the Usual Spot, only Fusa stayed behind out of anxiety. She felt that something was not right; could Seifer set them up in a trap? There was no time to think, however.  Hayner was on his way back to her and grabbed her wrist, causing her to gasp with surprise. 

"C'mon, Fusa, we're gonna need your help," he stated as he pulled her away from the Usual Spot's entrance and to the others.

 

* * *

 

In the hub of the town called Market Street, where citizens have noticed the group and scurried away out of sight with glares in their eyes, Fusa stopped in her tracks and looked around to see if there was someone to tell her and her friends on what was wrong. Normally the Street would be full of busy streetwise shoppers; it felt too quiet aside from dogs barking in the distance. She looked forward and saw her friends waiting for her at the Clothes shop. 

"Over here, Fusa!" Hayner called to her from a decent distance. 

She looked down at her two feet before looking up ahead and again and began to run over to her friends. Her observations of the building of the shop had a dark shade of brown with dark cream signs of clothes scattered on the front and sides. Nonetheless, she only had to shrug it off and listened to what her friends had to say. 

"Let's get this investigation underway," Pence told the others before the shopkeeper, a man with blond hair and purple wristbands, cleared his throat to get the group's attention. 

"Geez, you guys," the shopkeeper stated to them as Fusa was first to step up to the counter to talk to him, "Can't believe you would do something like this…" 

"M-mister, we didn't steal anything, I swear," Fusa responded to him as she looked at him with soft sincerity in her eyes. 

"I want to believe you, but… Who else would steal that stuff?" the shopkeeper stated to her again. 

"What stuff?" Fusa asked him as she stepped forward out of curiosity. 

He merely scowled at her and answered to her, "As if you didn't know! Hey, I'm not gonna tell you. Go ask the owner of the accessory shop- you're wasting my time."  With that, he closed up shop, leaving Fusa confused to herself. 

The group turned to another shop on the other side of town, an accessory shop that was a little bit lighter in shade and had colored jewelry signs on the front of the shop. Though Fusa was not one to think the excessive amounts would satisfy the void in people's hearts for simple things, the female shopkeeper was nice and understanding. The four managed to head over there to speak to her for any clarification. As they walked over there, Fusa stopped and turned her head to see a few people hiding. What struck her as curious was that they seemed to have numbers and letters as skin. However, she shrugged it off and followed behind. 

Once they reached to the accessory shop, Hayner looked at Fusa and urged her to talk to the shopkeeper. Once the shopkeeper saw the 14-year-old, she drew a sigh of relief. 

"Oh, it's you, Fusa," she stated to Fusa unlike the previous shopkeeper, "Please don't let me down. You used to be one of my favorite customers." 

"We're not thieves, ma'am, you just got to believe us," Fusa replied to her as she adjusted her backpack straps on her shoulders.

"Okay…" the shopkeeper responded with growing suspicion in her voice. 

"Please, you need to understand," Fusa explained to her, knowing that the shopkeeper wouldn't believe her at all, "It's terrible having everyone suspecting us." 

"Then you gotta clear your names," the shopkeeper suggested with an idea as the group listened to what she had to say, "The woman at the candy shop is pretty disappointed, too. Maybe you can try asking her." 

The group then turned to the candy shop across from the accessory shop, which had a more kinder look than the previous shop. The owner, possibly a widowed grandmother, was usually with a cat by her side; Fusa noticed that the cat was missing. Nonetheless, the group headed over to the candy shop where the owner was waiting at. 

At the candy shop, the owner asked Fusa in a grandmotherly tone, "Fusa? Have you seen my cat?" 

"I-I don't think so, ma'am," Fusa responded honestly before hearing a soft meow on the canopy of the shop, taking a few steps back, and looking up to see what it was.  There, she saw a cat with an orange and yellow colored collar sitting without intention of coming down. 

Fusa thought of ways to get the cat to come down from the canopy, though it would be a waste of time anyway. She tried calling the cat, but it didn't seem to budge, much to her chagrin. When she lost hope, she remembered the cat toy she brought along and pulled it out of her backpack. Then she began to shake it in her hand, catching the cat's attention and allowing her to lock on the feline to get it down. Immediately, the cat got up and jumped down from the canopy with Fusa there to catch it. She couldn't help herself but give the cat a light scratch on the chin before giving it back to the candy shop owner. 

"Thank you, dearie," the owner thanked Fusa as the cat went over the counter to have something to eat. 

"Ma'am, did they stole something you, too?" Fusa asked her as the group listened to what the owner had to respond. 

"Oh, my, yes," the woman responded with a sad nod. "Something very important. I forgot what they took from me, but it is very close to my heart." 

"Just to clarify, we didn't do it," Fusa stated to the woman to keep her informed. 

"Don't worry, I believe you," the owner responded with a kind nod to the group. 

"Thank you for that, ma'am," Fusa thanked her with a sigh of relief. 

The group was able to take some steps away to discuss matters to themselves privately about the situation. Fusa seemed to be concerned while her friends were confused by it. She didn't know whether or not it was possible to lack memories of the stolen article. In fact, she couldn't tell if it was true or not. 

"This isn't any average thief…" Pence affirmed to his friends as they looked at him, "No one seems to remember what was stolen from them…" 

"Do you think the thief stole their memories as well?" Fusa inquired out of thought now she decided to discuss it further with her friends. 

"We should talk with Seifer about it- maybe he knows about it," Olette suggested to her friends. 

"We'll put Fusa's idea into action and try to get him and the Committee to help us out," Pence added, though Fusa herself became flustered by his words. "Let's go talk to him in the Sandlot!" 

Once settled, the group headed to the Sandlot, East to the Street of town, and where the local Disciplinary Committee would be at. As they left, however, the woman at the candy shop was gone. 

* * *

 

At the Sandlot, where the sunset has reached to the buildings and dirt is unlimited, the four teens spotted three of the members: Rai and Fuu, Seifer's lackeys, and a new member simply known as "Vivi". Only Fusa remained behind due to, based on her knowledge from watching him, Seifer's reputation to fight anyone to prove their strength to him. When the teens arrived, however, Vivi quickly took notice and started eyeing them with soulless yellow dotted eyes. Rai and Fuu later took notice as well and turned to the small group. 

"Thieves," Fuu only uttered as she pointed at them and lowered her arm. 

"That was low, y'know!" Rai added, much to Hayner's annoyance. 

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the loser thieves," a voice taunted them coldly as Seifer appeared from the alleyways and joined with the Committee.  "Have you come to confess what you did? Or do you have other things in mind?" 

Hayner stood his ground with a low growl, though Pence nudged Fusa's shoulder to step forward to do her task. Despite her unsure feelings to even talk to them, she stepped forward in front of the Committee. Seifer only placed his hands on hips in superiority, raising an eyebrow at the 14-year-old. Rai and Fuu only looked at her; Vivi was paying attention. Fusa became pressured to go through with her suggestion, feeling as if she had butterflies in her stomach. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try. 

"Mister Seifer a-and respectable members of the Committee," Fusa began to speak politely as she twiddled her fingers unsurely, "My friends and I would want your help in finding the real thieves. I was wondering if we could make peace to work together to clear our names…" Then she gave an honest smile at them to seal the deal. 

However, this didn't work; the Committee members only laughed at her as a response, causing her to frown with an ashamed blush. Once Seifer ceased their laughter, he crossed his arms and had a different idea. 

"That little idea of yours doesn't work in the real world, kid," he stated as Fusa only cowered a bit from hurt, "It's called 'natural selection'. If you want to prove yourself innocent of your crimes, you gotta fight with the big boys." Then an idea came to mind as he grabbed two blue Struggle bats from a nearby bench. "Better yet, you can prove it right now- we'll go _mano-a-mano_ with some Struggle bats. If I win, you all turn tail and leave town to Sunset Terrace. If I lose, then I'll let it slide." 

He then tossed one of the Struggle bats to Fusa, which landed on the ground in front of her feet. She only looked down without knowing what to do, but only picked it up to examine it in her hands. After moments of thinking as to whether or not to do it, Fusa grimaced and put the bat back down on the ground. 

"I wish to decline the offer to duel with you, Mister Seifer," she stated to him before backing away from the bat with a few steps. "Violence has no place in my life at all." 

"So you're gonna be a chicken wuss about it, then?" Seifer mocked her with a harsh tone. "Forfeiting from a fight is against the rules in my book. Otherwise, you'll-" 

"I'll take her place!" Hayner interrupted Seifer as he rushed in front of Fusa to grab the Struggle bat from the ground. "You want a fight? You got one!" 

"Hayner, you…" Fusa spoke in a quiet voice as she reached out to Hayner. 

He only looked behind her with a disappointed look and responded in a low voice, "Next time, try to at least fight for yourself." 

Then he looked forward and charged at Seifer as Pence and Olette got Fusa away from the two fighters. The 14-year-old felt guilt in herself for making a decision not to fight Seifer and only looked down to think about it. 

In their fighting, Seifer was taunting Hayner to strike at him, waiting for the chance to get the upper hand. When the latter blocked attacks, the former was looking for weak points as he used strikes to distract him. Luckily, Hayner was able to dodge some of Seifer's attacks and got the upper hand. He made an uppercut to the stomach with his bat, creating internal damage with the top of the bat itself. 

During the fighting, as Pence and Olette were rooting for Hayner, Fusa noticed a grey streak heading to the Station Plaza, home to the clock tower and a train station called Central Station. She raised an eyebrow out of a curious manner, almost entranced by it. Almost by instinct from birth, she sneaked away from the groups and started to follow it in the proper direction, making a run for it. She did not recognize that streak at all; perhaps, she thought to herself as she made her way through the neighborhood and its quiet alleyways, if it was fleeing away from something or someone. There could be a chance for her to help them. As she followed after the streak, however, time had stopped and only Vivi was watching her move. 

* * *

 

As she ran towards the grey streak, exhaustion caught up with her halfway in the curious chase. Her thighs were pulsing and tight from running, and her back was sweating. Luckily, though, she was able to stop and catch her breath before anything else happens. 

"They're heading to the Central Station," she told herself with a huff of breath before looking forward ahead, "So they might need to go somewhere. But who are they? Why are they making rendezvous at the station?" 

Once she was able to have a moment, Fusa began running again to the train station. By the time she arrived at the Station Plaza, Fusa halted to a total stop and noticed the grey streak had a form. It appeared human-like, yet it appeared dangerously thin. It was just standing with light sways of its arms and shoulder blades. Fusa found this puzzling; she figured that it was waiting for someone important. She took one step forward and was ready to reach out to it. Then it turned around slowly, making her gasp and step back a bit. She realized that this was no ordinary person at all- it was waiting for _her_. 

The creature had no eyes, only a symbol on the top of its head, and a zipper for a mouth; Fusa was unsure if it was suit or skin at this point. Her heart raced with fear when it made a few steps forward in a strange fashion towards her. She wanted to ask it questions, but her mind went blank at the sight and her body was paralyzed with fear. Was it a friend? A foe? A man? A monster? Questions ran wild in her head as she looked at the creature more. 

Before she could blink, two more suddenly appeared on both sides of the creature in the same direction. Fusa whimpered a bit as her eyes widened in confusion and fear as to what these creatures were going to do. Not once in her life that she felt real danger creeping down her spine, or lack thereof. 

"Hayner… Pence… Olette… where are you?" she breathed in a quiet voice as she was backing away from the creatures. 

That's when the first of the trio spoke in a low voice to her, as if she could understand it clearly: 

_ "We have come for you, sister."  _

Fusa gasped with horror as she watched the three husks' zippers open to reveal emptiness inside their bodies and twitch rabidly. Then they took their first leap and started to quickly slither in the air towards her. She had no choice but to run from them with fear. 

* * *

 

In the chase, Fusa was running as fast as she could in the town, hoping to get away from the creatures and find her friends.  Upon reaching to the Sandlot, she stopped to find that her friends and the Committee were gone. She looked around to see if they were there, but to no avail. Her thoughts were going haywire as to why they were going after her and why one of them called her "sister". 

Now was not the time to think, she knew; they were on their way. So she began to run again, yet she was growing breathless again. This time, she had to ignore her lack of breath and continued running until she would wind down. Exhaustion was creeping up to her again, this time heavier and harder to get rid of. 

As she ran, however, Fusa began to slow down from the speed and her sides were in pain. She fell to one knee to take a breath, not knowing whether or not the creatures were still behind her or not. Before she could get up and run again, she saw in the corner of her eye a figure in blue and yellow holding a strange weapon in their hands. It appeared to be Vivi, for he was waiting for the creatures to come. When they came, however, they stopped and proceeded to attack him instead. 

Fusa was able to barely stand and watched what Vivi was going to do, or at least, what he had planned to do. She watched as he made a high jump and attack the creatures without fail, using the weapon to slice and slash them fatally. Rather than their bodies falling to the ground, the creatures only faded in a puff of dark essence. Fusa didn't know whether or not she was seeing everything; the only thing that mattered was that Vivi had stopped the creatures from coming after her. 

"Vivi…" she huffed breathlessly as Vivi looked at her with an apparent blank stare, "That was… incredible." 

Before she could thank him, however, the sun started to glow brighter than ever, causing Fusa to cover her eyes so she wouldn't go blind. Then a hard force knocked her to the ground unconscious and out cold… 

* * *

 

Inside the dim computer room, where DiZ was typing in codes into the computer, the figure in black entered from a portal from darkness and approached behind the man in red. He was called upon by DiZ when all things were considered important. In this case, it was urgent by call. 

"The Organization can't seem to figure out which stimulation has the Nobody in it," the figure in the black cloak quipped to DiZ to make the moment light. 

"It doesn't matter now," DiZ responded to the man. "Even if they try to locate Roxas, they would find a way to get Fusa in their clutches as well. Those meddling Dusks have found a way to get into the system under our watch and possibly in disguise. The next time you go inside, do not use that pathetic disguise again. It would throw the system off and increase the amount of glitches. That would create a leak between the two stimulations." 

"Does that mean that the two must not know each other at all costs?" the figure in black inquired as he crossed his arms. DiZ only sighed quietly to himself rather than give a proper answer. 

"Precisely," he answered in a sincere voice. "Neither of them must be aware of each other's presence in their containments. Now I only hope your actions doesn't create a riff in the system." 

* * *

 

Elsewhere, in Disney Castle, Max and Gremlin Gus made their way to the Gummi Ship so they would head to Traverse Town. They needed a ship and fast to meet up with the engineers to see if there was a Ship ready for them. The two brought supplies just in case the trip becomes longer than expected; Max brought along his skateboard, his own choice of weapon instead of a shield, as well as a pair of goggles for a helmet. Gus, on the other hand, was bringing along a journal to record people, events, and locations down like his friend did. While he did not bring any weapons of his own, he could still be of use for the Keyblade wielder. 

"So, Gus, which model of Gummi Ship should use?" Max asked Gremlin Gus once they arrived to the Gummi Hangar. 

"I'm certain Chip and Dale already gotten control of the Kingdom model," Gus responded to the young Knight. "Perhaps we should use the Excalibur model. That is a priceless beauty to behold- Excalibur. Merlin helped me name it, of course." 

"Is it fast enough to get us to Traverse Town?" Max asked him again. 

"Faster than the speed of sound, I would say." 

Max merely rolled his eyes at the pointless bragging and went on to see the Gummi Ship itself. He noticed that while it wasn't as cool-looking as the Kingdom model, being that it had a sky blue coat with dark green and raspberry on its boosters, it wasn't shabby-looking either. At least the Gremlins knew what type of blueprint they would use- just not the right amount of colors to make it perfect. 

When they approached the Gummi Ship Excalibur, two of Gus's fellow Gremlins spotted them and became concerned in motion. They were told that someday, their leader would be able to go out into the worlds in his Ship and would be gone for a long time. However, Gus simply smiled at them and held his hand at them, gesturing to them not to worry about him. Still, he didn't want to see his fellow Gremlins worried sick about their leader. 

"How is the Excalibur doing, chaps?" Gus inquired to them as Max waited for him to hurry up. 

"She's ship-shape and ready for the journey, sir," one of them responded with a salute. 

"Excellent, that's what we wanted to hear," Gus told them with a nod at the two fellow Gremlins. 

"Sir, are you really going to go?" the other asked him with growing concern. 

Gus sighed and floated to them, stating to them in a low voice, "Do not worry for me, lads. I'll be reliving the glory days back when we still had our world. Someday, I will return when it is over. Make no mistake!" 

With that, they nodded in understanding and floated away, leaving Gus and Max to the Gummi Ship themselves. 

"The 'glory days'?" Max asked him with a puzzled expression. 

"It's a long story, lad, and I hope you have the time for one on the trip," Gus answered with a chuckle before they proceeded into the Ship. "Well, it's more than a long story, anyway." 

Once they board the Ship, the Gremlins made signals to Gus to prepare for takeoff out of the Castle. When it was time to go, Max buckled up in a seat with his seatbelt, Gus took the handles for navigation, and they were off.


	3. Chpt. 2- Twilight Town: Odd Jobs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In spite of yesterday's confusion, Fusa decides to forget about it and participates in odd jobs around Twilight Town to earn money for a trip to the beach with her friends. But confusion arises again when she finds that the Town isn't what she thinks it is...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters in one day?!
> 
> Well, there's plenty more coming along.

2nd Day

_Who… who were those creatures? What do they want? Do they intend to hurt my friends? Why are they here? I need answers… I need answers!_

* * *

 

Awoken from a dream, Fusa was catapulted from her sleep in shock. She was breathing hard and shifting her eyes around the room to see if there was any of the grey creatures around to go after her. Luckily, though, she was able to relax and give a sigh of relief that there wasn't any in the room. Still, the events of yesterday had confused her. Did Vivi really save her? Was she seeing things in her head? And what ever did happen to her friends?

Nonetheless, Fusa scratched her head with her left hand in puzzlement. Perhaps she was imagining things. One thing was for sure, though: she was expected at the Usual Spot.

Once she got out of bed, Fusa was able to get dressed in her normal outfit from her pajamas and grab her backpack.

"Maybe my friends would know what happened yesterday," she told herself as she got out of the house and to the streets to head over to the Usual Spot.

* * *

 

Close to the entrance to the Usual Spot, nearby the lamp-post and post board, Fusa stopped and looked around, believing that she saw a man in a black cloak in the corner of her eye. She shook her head when she thought of it as preposterous and headed to the Usual Spot without stopping. Unbeknownst to her, however, there was a man in a black cloak watching her in the shadows.

Upon arriving to the Spot, where her friends were at, Fusa noticed that Hayner didn't appear to be damaged from yesterday's events. That, and they were having sea-salt ice cream with one more for her. She was slightly confused at first; still, she didn't want to question it at all.

"Hey, Fusa, how's it hanging?" Hayner asked her with a grin as she received the ice cream from Olette.

"Fine, I guess…" she answered in an unsure tone as she began eating her ice cream. He only cocked his head to the side as if she was thinking of something else.

"What's wrong?" he asked again as if concerned.. "It's just that- well, summer vacation's drawing a close," Fusa answered, not wanting to bring up the accusations nor the grey creatures yesterday. "I fear that neither of us would be together as friends. It scares me to think about it. Then again, it's a part of growing up, I guess."

"All of us are," Pence stated to her as she turned her attention to him. "But still, we're still gonna be friends, even if we're not together. We'll never forget each other because friends never forget each other."

Fusa thought about what Pence stated to her and gave a smile with a nod. "You're right, guys."

"I think I know what we should do before this vacation ends," Hayner spoke with an idea in mind as the others listened to him. "We could all go to the beach! Blue seas, blue skies, the sand between your toes- it would be great!"

"Sounds like a great idea, Hayner," Olette stated as Pence and Fusa turned their attention to her, "But there's a problem: we're broke."

"You forgot that I'm smart," he humorously responded before running out of the Usual Spot.

Once they were finished with their ice cream, Pence and Olette tossed their ice cream sticks into the trash and followed behind Hayner to Market Street.

Once again, Fusa remained behind to think about what happened the previous day before, wondering why her friends can't remember what happened. However, she hoped to put it past her and stood up to follow behind Pence and Olette, still holding onto her bar of sea-salt ice cream.

* * *

 

Upon arriving outside, Fusa spotted a nearby map that contained the locations of Twilight Town and picked it up, examining it carefully. With it, she rolled it up carefully and placed it in her backpack for future reference. Then she noticed her friends in front of a poster for the yearly Struggle Tournament, to which Hayner entered into the finals for due to his quick senses. Upon arriving, Hayner looked behind him and moved a bit for her to join in with the others.

"Just two days to go," he stated to his friends. "No matter what, if I win, the four of us split the prize!"

"You gotta make it to the finals, Hayner," Fusa replied with encouragement and a nod. "I've seen you fight like no one else!"

"You're gonna clean up!" Pence pitched in.

"Go get 'em!" Olette added.

"You got it, guys," Hayner responded with confidence in his heart. Then he remembered about the beach trip. "Okay, let's get down to business. One ticket to the beach is 900 munny. How much for the four of us?"

"3600 munny," Olette answered to him as Pence and Fusa listened in.

"And 300 each to spend there. What's that for all of us?" Hayner asked her again as he looked at her with a questioned look.

She answered him again, "1200 munny. A total of 4800 munny."

"To spend on what, exactly?" Fusa inquired to them, trying to figure out what type of object has that amount.

"Pretzels, of course! What else is there?" Hayner answered her as she crossed her arms with thought.

"Well, there's always watermelon," she answered to him in a humorous tone, trying to lighten the mood.

"Too pricey," he responded to her as he shook his head as a "no" to her, "They're, like, 2000 munny apiece."

Taking her munny out of her pocket and counting it in her hand, Fusa sighed and agreed with Hayner, "Pretzels it is."

Once they had the type of snack for the beach trip figured out, Hayner questioned as if he forgotten the topic and asked his friends, "So, where were we?"

"We need 4800 munny altogether," Olette answered him, "But all we have is…?"

"I've got 800 on me," Pence answered upon getting his munny out of his pocket.

"650 on me as well," Olette added in.

"150. Sorry, guys," Fusa stated as she showed her friends the amount of munny she had in her hand before putting it back in her pocket for safekeeping.

"That's 1600 munny! We need another 3200," Hayner stated after he counted up the total amount of munny that his friends had. Soon he had an idea upon seeing the job bulletin on the board on a nearby wall. "Let's find ourselves some odd jobs and earn some dough! We have 'til the train leaves to earn 800 munny each!" Then he made a head start ahead as the other three waited for him on what to do next. He called out to them as he ran, "Meet me at the station with cash in hand!"

Pence merely rolled his eyes and crossed his arms behind his head, asking to the girls, "Didn't he say he had it covered?"

"At any rate, those pretzels are sounding pretty good," Fusa answered to him before she, Pence, and Olette headed up to Market Street to apply for odd jobs. She only hoped that the odd jobs themselves would be able to take the previous day's events off her mind. It would be the last thing she needed right now. As they left, however, the man in black was in the shadows and was observing Fusa carefully before walking in her direction.

* * *

 

Upon arriving to the job bulletin board in Market Street, Fusa read the job descriptions for at least three of them: "Mail Delivery", "Cargo Climb", and "Grandstander". She figured that she could boost up her strength first just in case those creatures decided to come back. So she chose "Cargo Climb" and headed to the top of the hill, where a man was waiting for someone. Upon arriving, he turned to her and examined her carefully.

"I'm here to make some munny, sir," she stated to him politely as he looked at her with suspicions, "Just tell me what to do, please."

"If you want 50 munny, you gotta get that cargo into the garage in less than 30 seconds," he instructed to her carefully, "Any type of delay will give you 10 munny. Are we clear on that, missy?"

"Yes," Fusa answered to him with a nod.

He took out a stopwatch out of his pocket and showed it to her. "You see this?" he asked her before explaining to her, "I'm gonna be timing you so that you get the job done fast. I only hope that you have a strong back."

She nodded in response and headed over to the large bag on wheels, prepared to do the job done and fast. Fusa cracked her fingers and waited for the time to go, examining the cargo itself. It seemed heavy, she noticed with wide eyes, hence the wheels. But when she heard the man call out for time, she pressed her palms into the bag and began to push as hard as she could upwards the hill. Despite its heavy weight, she continued to push it upwards, trying to avoid slipping and being crushed if it rolled back. Midway in, about 21 seconds, Fusa almost slipped and nearly slid down. Thankfully, she caught herself and continued to go upwards until reaching to the top and pushed the bag into the garage, where the wheels collapsed underneath.

"Time!" the man called as he stopped the stopwatch. "You did… somewhat decently. You clocked in at 35 seconds. However, you do earn more than 10 munny."

With that, he gave her 30 munny as reward. However, she felt unhappy with her mistake and turned to him.

"Is it possible that I could try again, sir?" she asked him upon putting the munny into her pocket. He looked at her as if she was insane.

"Try again? You sure?" he asked her as he raised an eyebrow. She nodded her head as a sincere "yes". "Fine; you get another chance."

She made a sigh of relief and noticed another cargo bag waiting down the hill for her. This time, she began to point out to herself where it would be best to hold her balance. Once she was able to be down the hill behind the cargo, the man waited for her to be ready. She became settled and he restarted the stopper. As soon as the timer was set, Fusa started to push the bag up the hill. This time, she was able to use where she could get her balance and push the cargo up the hill. Unlike her previous attempt, where she nearly slipped, she used the balance as her advantage and was able to push the cargo up at a quicker yet careful pace. Upon pushing it to the top, she used the last of her ability to push it into the garage so it would be with the first bag. She wiped off a bit of sweat of her brow and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Impressive- 25 seconds," the man stated as he showed her the timer so she would see what she got this time. "Looks like you've earned it." He then gave her the 50 munny as guaranteed and placed it in her hands.

"Thank you, sir," she thanked him before putting the munny in her pocket. "Maybe later this week I can do more?"

"Anytime you want, kiddo," he answered before she ran off to the bulletin to see what else was there.

She noticed that there was an opening for a "Grandstander", or one that could make cheap entertainment with a ball in the air by juggling. To her, it was still entertainment regardless of quality. According to the job description, there needs to be someone that could make that entertainment happen. Though not exactly the performer type, Fusa seemed interested in it. Maybe she could try it out to see if the entire incident could go away.

"Excuse me," she spoke after quietly clearing her throat to a child who had a large ball in her hand, "Is there a sign-up sheet for this job?"

"No, there isn't," the little girl answered as she shook her head as a "no" at Fusa, "But are you applying for the 'Grandstander' position?"

"Yes," Fusa answered honestly.

"The rules are simple. If you make 20 or more juggles in the air without dropping the ball five times, you earn 50 munny. Make five to 19 juggles and you earn 30 munny. However, if you make less than four juggles, then you only earn 10 munny. You can use that Struggle bat if you want to."

When she said this, the little girl pointed to a Struggle bat on the ground close by where they were standing. Fusa snapped her head to see where the Struggle bat was at with confusion. She didn't notice the bat when she approached the little girl. In fact, the bat wasn't there when she arrived. Still, she went over to the bat and picked it up, feeling the dotty texture of the handle in her hand. Holding it in her hand brought back that memory of the previous day of being challenged by Seifer to fight him, being told off by Hayner, and being chased by those grey creatures. This time, she had to hold it in her hand and turned to the little girl with a spark of hope that she can do this.

"I can try to do it," Fusa stated to the little girl once she was settled.

"I will be counting the amount of juggles you make," the little girl responded to her with a nod before tossing the ball to the center of the area, where a crowd has gathered to watch.

Fusa took her backpack off and placed next to a nearby wall so that there would be less weight on her back, literally speaking. A light crowd gathered around the soon-to-be performance, including Vivi, as Fusa prepared herself to entertain the crowd. She felt a little nervous about doing it in front people, especially with someone from the Committee. Once the little girl tossed the ball into the air, Fusa held the Struggle bat in her hand and made her first hit at it. Though it wasn't high enough, it was able to give her concentration. That, and the crowd was easily entertained.

Once the ball was in the air, Fusa took a chance and made a high jump at it, using the bat to thwack it to keep it in the air. Gravity pulled her back down as she landed on her feet carefully, not knowing that the crowd's cheers subsided. She turned and found that the ball has fallen to the ground as well. She had 4 tries left. So she tossed the ball in the air and made a quick hit on it in the air, causing it to hit the wall before falling back onto the ground again. 3 tries left. No time to mess up. She rushed over to the ball and picked it up to hit it again, but something caught her eye.

It was a man in black from where Vivi should have standing in, for he was just watching her move. She thought that she recognized him from earlier today, but she thought that it was strange to see the man in one day. This distraction, however, had cost her another try when the ball came back down. The crowd grew impatient for entertainment, grumbling in disappointment. Fusa was able to pay attention and snap back into reality. Before she could pick it up again, however, the little girl approached her with a sour face and snatched it from her. The crowd became disgruntled and left the area, making Fusa worried that she did something very wrong to them.

"You suck at this, y'know that," the little girl berated the 14-year-old before putting the ball away. "And you scared the customers away. Just take the 10 munny and go away."

With that, she threw the 10 munny at Fusa's feet before leaving her distraught by the harsh words. Feeling hard on herself, Fusa picked up the 10 munny off the ground and put it in her pocket as she stood in unsure thoughts, looking down at the ground. Her thoughts were interrupted when Vivi approached her in a hobble out of concern.

"You okay, Fusa?" he asked her in a kind tone.

No answer came from her.

"I thought you did pretty well," Vivi complimented nicely. This got her attention and she looked at him with a puzzled look.

"Really?" she inquired in a low tone.

He nodded "yes" as an answer.

"Not even Seifer can do something like that," Vivi stated to her, causing her to give a small smile at him. "You'll get better at it. Don't let anyone like that kid get you down and out."

"Thank you, Vivi," Fusa thanked Vivi as she got to his eye level and gave him a warm hug. Once she pulled out and stood up, she asked him, "How about you join me and my friends for sea-salt ice cream? We would like it greatly."

"I don't know if Seifer would let me go with you guys," Vivi answered to her invitation. "But I've always wanted to try it out. So maybe tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow it is, then. See you then, Vivi." With that, Fusa waved goodbye to him, grabbed her backpack and put it on, and left for the bulletin board on the wall. When she left, however, Vivi was gone again.

In front of the bulletin board on the wall, Fusa examined on what was next for the odd jobs list. She noticed the last of the three: "Mail Delivery". The requirements listed that the person would be able to deliver mail to carrier pigeons while they were in the air and while the person was on a skateboard. She had to re-read the last requirement just to be safe. She groaned to herself upon realizing that she's not so good with skateboarding of all things. However, there was no other option except to try it out for size.

With that said, she headed over to the mail-lady with a bag of mail inside and a skateboard with a post stamp at her side. Fusa brought upon herself to approach to the mail-lady to get the final job. As long as it was get enough munny for the beach and pretzels, she knew that she would have to try skateboarding now.

"Are you here for the job, kid?" the mail-lady inquired to Fusa once the 14-year-old approached her.

"Yes, ma'am," she answered with a nod.

"Okay, here are the rules to do the task," the mail-lady explained to Fusa as she handed her the bag and skateboard. "There are five letters in that hand-bag and they need to be delivered to five carrier pigeons. However, they need to be delivered in under 20 seconds. Get the mail delivered in under 20 seconds, you get 50 munny. Past those 20 seconds and you'll get either 30 munny or 10 munny. I will be timing you during this time. Got that?"

Fusa nodded and was sent to work for the job. She hoped that the man in the black cloak would not distract her again to make a fool out of her. Upon finding the first pigeon flying in the air, Fusa stood on the skateboard and started to quickly skate. She grabbed the first letter and held it in her hand. When she looked at the pigeon, the bird instantly exchanged her look at her and made a dive to her, receiving the letter successfully.

She continued to skate down quickly within 6 seconds, getting to the next pigeon. In 10 seconds, she got two more. Once she spotted the final pigeon, it was almost in 15 seconds. She had no choice but to throw the letter in the air, hoping that the bird would get it. Turns out, however, it made a quick dive to the letter and grabbed it with its feet. Fusa looked up with surprise and made a skate to the mail-lady, who stopped the timer to review the time. The woman's face was full of awe and surprise, to which she looked at the young 14-year-old girl with wide awed eyes.

"You made it by under the 20 second mark- 19 seconds, a new record," the mail-lady stated to Fusa before reaching in her pocket to get the munny out. "Here's your pay for the job well done." With that, the mail-lady gave her the 50 munny, allowing Fusa to accept it and put it in her pocket.

"Thank you, ma'am," Fusa thanked her before returning the skateboard and handbag to the lady and heading out of Market Street, running to Station Plaza to meet up with Hayner.

When she left, the man in the black cloak stood next to the lady without a word. Neither of them seem to acknowledge each other's existence.

* * *

 

Upon arriving to Station Plaza, Fusa saw Hayner standing a few yards away from the Central Station, along with Pence and Olette. They were just standing there without anything to say to each other. Fusa figured that they were waiting for her and approached them without a worry. When she arrived, they turned to her and gave a smile.

"You got the munny?" Hayner asked her.

"Yes- about 140 munny," Fusa answered upon showing him the earned munny and combining it to her own, "Now I have 290 munny in total."

"That'll work," he responded as Olette put the 290 munny into the handmade pouch to store the munny in. "So how much do we got, Olette?" Hayner asked the brunette haired girl as she counted up the munny in the pouch.

"We're 500 munny short of 4800, guys," she responded with dissatisfaction. Fusa frowned and looked away with worry that it was her fault. "We don't enough for the trip…"

"Well, what do we do with the munny, anyway?" Hayner asked before Pence looked over at Fusa with concern before looking at Olette with an idea.

"I think I have an idea," Pence stated before being given the munny pouch and walking over to Fusa, who turned to see him. "I think we should give the munny to Fusa. After all, she did work the hardest of the four of us out there. She deserves it." Then he placed the pouch in her hand with a smile.

"Guys, I-I don't know what to say about this," Fusa stammered with a flustered blush, holding the munny pouch in her hand. "But I don't truly deserve it. What about the beach trip? What about the pretzels? If it's alright with you, then I would buy-"

"But then there wouldn't be enough for you to join us," Hayner responded as he shook at his head with a chuckle. "After all, you're still our friend. Friends never forget each other. We can never forget each other in our hearts. Even when things look bleak, we would always remember the good times we share. Besides, we'll hit the beach before summer vacation ends."

"You're right, Hayner," Fusa responded with a bright smile, knowing that he was indeed right, "When we go, I promise to treat you guys to those pretzels." Then she remembered her invitation to Vivi that he would join them for ice cream. "Oh, and I invited Vivi for some sea-salt ice cream tomorrow. It's his first time trying it out."

"Well… all right, if that's what you want then we'll invite him for ice cream, _R-R-R-Rox-x-x-xas_ ," Hayner responded, to which the last part resembled a mixed up shortage, complete with a rapid head-shaking. Fusa shook her head as if she saw it and became puzzled by what happened- this wasn't like Hayner at all. Or perhaps the amount of work the odd jobs has made her delirious. Hayner cocked his head to the side and asked her as if nothing happened to him at all, "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's all right, yeah," Fusa answered with an unsure smile, not exactly figuring out what just happened.

* * *

 

On top of the Central Station clock tower, the four friends were sitting at the edge of the tower, eating some sea-salt ice cream. Fusa had the munny pouch in her backpack behind where she was sitting, to which she was sitting next to Olette. She was still confused about what happened with Hayner down in the Plaza. Was it something he ate or the amount of time being spent in this town was getting to her mentally? Either way, she hoped that Pence and Olette wouldn't be the same as well. Two questions rested easy in her head: Did the man in black have to do with what happened with Hayner? And who was this "Roxas" person?

"When we go to the beach, I know that I wanna try out surfing," Hayner stated to his friends as they, except for Fusa, looked at him to listen. "That sounds like a lot of fun. I heard that residents nearby are pros at it. Maybe Fusa can join in as well in learning on how to surf; we could even compete on who's better!"

"The pretzels sound delicious, but I also wonder if they sell sea-salt ice cream there as well," Pence pondered to himself as he ate his ice cream.

"Well, who knows? When we go, we'll check if they have sea-salt ice cream as well," Olette answered to Pence as he looked at her with a questioned look.

Only Fusa remained silent during the friends' conversations with each other. All except for one thought in her head: _What is going on here?_

* * *

 

Inside of the computer room under the mansion, DiZ was speaking with the man in the black cloak as he was at the multiple computer screens. He was reading one of the data outputs from whence Fusa is in and was intrigued by what he read. A peculiar reading, indeed.

"According to one of the codes for the Market Street figures, there are particles of a strange reading from the little Newborn when she did the Mail Delivery," DiZ stated as he printed out the readings for the man in black to read. "One moment it focused its heart on the birds, they became contaminated temporarily and became connected to it until it was done. Its heart could not be encoded, so it is spreading the power to those it focus on."

"So it has some sort of power?" the man in the black cloak inquired to DiZ.

"Certainly," the man in red answered with a laugh. "And consider the odd jobs as enrichment for the little one. After all, it deserves to have the munny pouch and she can have enough to buy some sea-salt ice cream."

"What about the glitch that just happened? Did you think she caught on and would find out?"

"I'll fix it so it wouldn't happen again. Just remember this: Newborn Nobodies are too naïve to even catch onto a little leak in the coding. But also keep in mind not to be sight whenever she is somewhere, otherwise the little Newborn would become suspicious. Newborns might be naïve, but they're not entirely dim either."

"Got it."

As he was running a clean-up on the data to remove the remaining contamination and to fix the leak, DiZ noticed one of the grey creatures squiggling into a grayish-black portal out of the town. He grew irritated when he realized that a Nobody had been in there the whole time, yet he didn't know if it was watching the young Newborn or not. One thing was for sure: the Organization would be onto them.

"Go into the town Roxas is in and scare off any of those Dusks away if they go too close to him and bring back that munny pouch he's planning to use for the beach," DiZ ordered the man in the black cloak when he turned to him. "Leave me to handle with the Organization if they go in."

* * *

 

 

On the very top of the Central Station clock tower in the real Twilight Town, above the actual clock, there stood another man in black. Unlike the one working with DiZ, he was lean and slim with narrow fitting sleeves. He was surrounded by multiple grey creatures like the ones in the virtual replica, as well as strange grey creatures with violet lines and spikes on their wing-like arms. His hood was up, keeping his identity a secret from anyone's sight.

The grey creature from inside of the stimulation entered from the portal and twitched up in a spineless squiggle up to the strange man. There, it started to whisper information into his ear when he leaned slightly to the right, where the creature was. He seemed to understand what the creature was "saying" and nodded as if he knew.

"Got it," the man excused the creature away before crossing his arms. He looked to the sunset of the world, his face barely shown with a sly grin. "So tell me where this 'Newborn Nobody' is at…"


	4. Chpt. 3- Twilight Town: Captured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fusa's world is turned upside down when a mysterious man in black goes after her and she finds herself in crossroad confusion with grey creatures, the man in black, and a giant key in her hand...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the 3rd chapter of "Lock of Fate"!
> 
> Anyway, the reason why I have 3 days for Twilight Town instead of 6 like in the original "KHII" game is because 1. I do not want to make it long and bore my readers to death; 2. Because it would have slowed down pacing of the story; and 3. I wanted to make it a little... interesting.

3rd Day

_Who's Roxas? Do we know him? Does he live here? Is he from out of town? Does he know Hayner? Why did Hayner call me Roxas? Are we related?_

* * *

Waking up from another dream, Fusa opened her eyes and carefully sat up on her bed in her pajamas. She was thinking about the previous day and how it made her confused. Out of thought, she simply scratched her head and looked out at the window for the town and its warm sunset. Perhaps she could forget about it when she would joins her friends at the Usual Spot. Once she thought of that, Fusa was able to get out of bed and dress in her usual outfit quickly for the day.

Once dressed in her outfit, putting her silver locket necklace around her neck, and putting her boots on, Fusa paused and snapped her head to the window to see if there was someone below. She thought that, for some reason, the man in black from the previous day was there again. That, and she thought she heard the sound of a heartbeat as well. Nonetheless, she figured that she must have been hearing and seeing things that do not make a lot of sense at all. She shrugged and finished getting dressed, eventually grabbing her backpack and making her way out of her home. She figured that a trip to the beach would make her feel better.

* * *

Upon arriving to the Usual Spot, Fusa noticed that her friends were no-where to be found at all. At first, she was a little worried that someone, maybe the man in the black cloak, had taken them for ransom. Then she noticed a note on the dark yellow furnace and walked forward to see what it says. A ransom note, she wondered a little. Luckily, she gave a sigh of relief when she read it.

Then she began to read it:

"To Fusa,

We're going to try heading to the beach today. You can bring Vivi along if you want to. No worries about the munny- we'll loan a bit from our parents and the rest will go the pretzels. If there's enough, then I'll buy us a quick surfing lesson for you and me. Meet us at the Central Station for the trip before the day ends!

Hayner"

Fusa gave off a smile when she read it, mainly because Hayner was allowing her to invite Vivi due to her promise to him. Perhaps it would mean making peace with the rest of the Committee as well. So, she grabbed her pencil and a piece of paper and jotted down a response to the note and put it down before heading out.

It read as followed:

"To my friends,

I'm going to be picking up some sea-salt ice cream and heading over to the train station to meet up with you guys. I'll pay for the train tickets, pretzels, and surf lessons galore. I'll bring the ice cream so that we wouldn't worry about buying some at the beach.

Like you said yourself, 'Friends never forget each other. We can never forget each other in our hearts. Even when things look bleak, we would always remember the good times we share.' I will always keep it in mind.

Fusa

P.S., let's not forget to invite Vivi as well!"

With that, she turned and left the Usual Spot, heading to Market Street without a worry in the world. In fact, she was planning on getting the sea-salt ice cream as promised. When she ran out, however, a couple of the grey creatures waited in the shadows in secret, just watching her. Rather than going after her, they went the other direction, where a man in black was leaning by the wall, just waiting.

* * *

At the ice cream shop in Market Street, Fusa approached to the front and took out the munny pouch out of her backpack and took out some munny to buy some ice cream. The owner of the shop placed four bars of sea-salt ice cream inside a bag and gave it to her. However, she knew that Vivi would like one, so she held up one finger and nodded her head, indicating for one more. The owner understood and added one more bar of ice cream into the bar, then gave her the bag. She handed him the munny and accepted the bag, putting the pouch in the backpack, thanking the owner, and heading away to the Sandlot to meet up with Vivi.

As she made her journey to the Sandlot, Fusa stopped in the Back Alley, when she thought that she heard someone close by. She figured that it was impossible to even think of It, since there was no one there. Or at least until she saw something in the corner of her eye that made her stomach twist. Below in Market Street, there was many people walking around, yet they were still as time has stopped. There was no sound, no motion, and no answer as to why this happened. All time seemed to stopped, all except for her.

She looked around with growing paranoia, thinking that she could be next in this strange phenomenon. Then she began to walk quickly to Tram Common to find the Committee to get Vivi so they could go to Station Plaza and meet up with her friends for the beach trip. That's when grey creatures suddenly appeared from the ground along with grey with violet lines and spikes on their wing-like arms. Fusa held tight to her bag of sea-salt ice cream and grew more frightened by the sight of these creatures trying to get to her. But why they weren't attacking her escaped her for the moment. Why she couldn't run kept her frozen with fear coursing in her veins. That, or she couldn't risk provoking the creatures to attack her when she ran.

That's when a dark portal appeared from the wall and a man in black with his hood up walked out of it. Fusa turned her head to the side to see who it was and dropped her bag out of panic. She knew, with a bad feeling, that this was not the same figure in black as the previous day- he had narrow sleeves that fitted his arms and his body was lean as well. This was a different man entirely.

"Looks like the rumors were true- there  _is_ someone else here," the figure spoke as he stopped upon coming out of the shadows to reveal himself in the sunset light. Fusa backed away a few steps out of fear that he would attack her. "I was going to get Roxas first and pick you up, but since I'm in here, I could twist the objectives for a bit."

 _Wait, he knows who this "Roxas" person?_ Fusa thought to herself as her breath hitched with fear.

"I would give you the full details, but we won't have time for a bit of Q&A," the man in black stated as strange circular weapons appeared in his hands like flames. "You're coming with me, kid, conscious or not. Mostly alive, though. Don't try to run away; otherwise I'll have to do it this the hard way." He held the weapons in his hands by the blades.

Fusa grew frightened that he would get the creatures to attack her. Yet why would he need her alive? And why would he need this "Roxas" person? Are they both targets in this little hunt? Before she could do anything, the man held his weapons in one hand and snapped his fingers for the creatures to attack her. They twitched and charged at her, squiggling into the air quickly towards her. She gasped out of fright and started running away, but became dog piled by the creatures. She was outnumbered and not strong enough to get them off of her. They were wrapping her body limbs and head, all except for one arm free. A few wrapped their boneless arms around her head, to which some type of energy was being drained from her.

"Someone help me, please…" she pleaded in repeats as many more collectively dog piled her more and blocked her light. Her voice could not carry out in an echo when she made her pleads. She felt like she was being crushed to the ground and thrashed down, pressure being applied to her body. So she was resorted to scream out her possible one last word as she reached out for help: " _ **HEEEEEELP!**_ "

Before the creatures could wrap around her free arm, Fusa felt something in her hand, much like the Struggle bat handle. Yet the texture was smooth with the touch of leather. A beam of light surrounded the creatures and they were thrown off of her, knocking them out temporarily. When the light was gone, Fusa was free; yet she was holding in her hand a key-like weapon with a magenta shine that could be mistaken as copper. The guard of the key had a light violet color, the rainguard was dark violet, and the teeth of the key resembled the outline of a disconnected heart. It had a long magenta keychain extending from the hilt with a heart token at the end of the chain. She was in awe by what she was seeing, yet could not understand why she had it.

Once the creatures were conscious, they twitched up and went after her again. Fusa had an idea to distract them and threw the weapon to the ground before running off quickly. It worked, for the creatures stopped to examine the weapon, distracting them. The man in black, however, watched her run off and teleported out of the area. Once Fusa was gone, the weapon disappeared in a flash of light, making the creatures confused.

As Fusa continued running, she was trying to find where the Sandlot was located in. The hard pressure on her body was forcing her to wind down, yet she continued to budge to continue in hopes to find the Committee to find out what was going on. She realized that something was wrong: her memory of the Sandlot was blank. She didn't know where it was now. She didn't know what those creatures did to her that caused this. However, when she tried running again, she felt like she was being driven to the ground again.

There was no other choice but to find a place to hide and to think things through so she could figure out what was really going on. So Fusa rushed over to the closest wall to hide behind and had her back to the wall, breathing hard yet trying to keep herself silent. The grey creatures were wriggling in the air, trying to find her, as if they were thinking that she went ahead. When they were gone, she gave an exhausted and quiet sigh of relief. Now all she need to do was to get the map out and find the Sandlot so she could do something of importance. It was on the tip of her tongue, yet she didn't know what.

Before she could get the map out, however, a strong force hit her by the back of her neck, causing her to fall to the ground unconscious. It was the man in black, who located her when she arrived to hide. When she fell, he shook his hand out and walked forward to examine his new captive. He took hold of her jacket, to which she slumped over, and carried her unconscious body over his shoulder.

"I did warn ya," he quipped as he opened up a dark portal with his free hand, using the other to hold the unconscious girl. "Besides, we're getting out of here and your head is going to be clean from everything that no longer matter now."

Then he entered into the dark portal, carrying Fusa with him, and they left the town for good.

* * *

An alarm went off in the computer room, where DiZ was in, when he saw what was happening to Fusa inside of the virtual town. His free eye of an orange color widened with horror in the midst of his calm demeanor. He realized that she was taken out of his creation, the only sanctuary where she could be safe until the time comes. Now he felt helpless to get her back from the man in black.

He stood up from his chair and walked away to give himself some time to think about what happened. That's when the man in the black cloak, the one from the previous day, teleported from the other virtual town. DiZ snapped his head to him with a hard glare yet knew that it was pointless to lash out at him.

"The Organization found out about the Newborn Nobody and sent that meddling redhead to collect it," he stated to the figure, looking away. "Those pesky Dusks took out the implanted memories and tracking device. Now they are deemed worthless without the one to hold them in. I wanted to get it out and let it join Roxas, but that would mean damaging the healing process."

"What about the town you created for her?" the figure asked him, unfazed about what has happened.

"I'll have to rewrite the area to make a different location for Roxas to play in, remove all data that is in it, and erase anything that holds prove that she ever existed in it," DiZ answered, going back to sit down in front of the screens. "There are, however, a few things I want to keep as souvenirs. Bring me the letter it made for its 'friends' before I reconstruct the area's code."

Before the figure left for what he needed to bring, he paused and inquired to DiZ, "About the girl… what brought you to the decision to allow her in there in the first place?"

"Ask me about it later," he answered, waving off the question. Inside, however, he felt hurt by what has happened. He only hoped that the girl would be all right.

* * *

In the Gummi Ship, Gremlin Gus was searching for Traverse Town on the map close to the wheel as Max fiddled with his skateboard, pretending to hit enemies with it. In the reflection of the break proof glass window, Gus only chuckled at the young Knight's actions. He figured that the young lad needed to kill boredom in the meantime. He gave a sad smile to himself that Max, despite his youth, missed his father dearly, despite the many times the Captain seemed to turn him red in the face.

A sight of a globe world caught Gus's attention as he halted the Gummi Ship and circled around the world. He saw that it was in cool browns with dim lights aglow in it and building sticking out like sore thumbs. He read on the screens that it was Traverse Town. Max looked up to see the world and his eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

"What's the matter, lad? Never seen a world like this before?" Gus quipped humorously with a chuckle.

"No," Max answered as he turned to the Gremlin pilot. "I thought it would look like an actual town, not like a planet with splinters."

"I didn't come up with the world's design," Gus joked before chuckling to himself, much to Max's embarrassment. This type of embarrassment reminded him too much of his father, which made the young Knight slightly sad about it. Gus stopped chuckling and patted the lad's shoulder out of reassurance before turning ahead to grab the wheel and flew the Ship to the entrance of the world. All they needed to do now was to wait for Yen Sid's final word on the manner.


	5. Chpt. 4- Twilight Town: Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of the digital Twilight Town and now left with little to no memories left, Fusa learns that she is not human and sets off to be reunited with her "friends", but will find that the truth is harder to accept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fusa gets a new outfit and it's going to be a default one at that.
> 
> The reason why she has this new outfit is because that I actually wanted an outfit that didn't follow the usual "belts-zippers" code that some would use for their own characters. An outfit that was actually *practical* and plausible to exist in real life, per se. However, I also want to make it similar to a Dusk Nobody as well, to have the idea that there was much more to the outfit than expected. It holds advantages and disadvantages as I will later reveal in the story.

Inside a dimly lit room in the real Twilight Town, far away from the mansion, Fusa was on top of a dark red colored covered bed in her white undergarments, still wearing her silver locket and her backpack was close to the bedside. When she woke up, her vision was blurry and her neck was throbbing a bit with pain. She sat up with a light groan, her vision clearing up. She was trying to remember what has happened to her. But as she was looking around the room, she spotted a man and gasped with fear, backing up into the head of the bed. One thing was for sure: she remembered who was after her.

The man in black, the same that had captured her, had his hood down and revealed what he truly looks like. He had slicked back spiky hair of fiery red extending from a widow's peak and two little hairs sticking out to the front, eyes of bright green, and a pair of violet teardrop markings under his eyes. He was leaning against a closed door and was watching her while she was unconscious.

"Guess who decided to wake up after all…" he mused to himself out loud with a chuckle as he got off of the wall and walked over to the bed. Fusa backed up into the corner of the bed out of fear in small whimpers, not wanting him to touch her again.

"Relax, kid, and take it easy," he spoke to her in a leisurely tone as he sat on the foot of the bed and talked causally to her with his arms crossed. "You're out of that place anyway. Besides, it's part of my orders from my boss." She remained silent; he only remembered about what he was told and rolled his eyes that he forgot. "Oh, I forgot that you don't know what you are. Let me clue you in about it, then. First off, you're what my fellow members and I call a 'Newborn Nobody'."

"New…born?" Fusa quietly repeated slowly, trying to believe him.

"Yep, exactly what you are," he answered with a nod. "I'm a Nobody, a very different topic altogether. Where I have no heart but I belong to this group- Organization XIII- to get one soon, you have a heart of your own but no memories and soon no identity to claim. In fact, you're nothing more than a template to make Lesser Nobodies."

Fusa became shocked by what she heard. Was he bluffing or was he telling the truth? Is he hiding something? She shook her head and placed her hands on her head.

"You're lying…" she quietly responded, trying to get the information out of her head. "My friends will find out where I am and-"

"They're not coming," the man answered, his cocky attitude dropped to a cold tone. "And here is the reason why. The town you thought you were living in? Fake. The memories of the life you thought you had? Fake and implanted for  _his_  sick amusement. Those so-called 'friends' you thought you were hanging out with? All fake. This is reality- you don't have friends, and you won't have friends."

Her heart dropped when she heard him say this to her. So her entire life inside the town was nothing more than lies. She didn't want to believe him; the fact that she was not human, her friends never existed, she had no memories, and that she was a "template" for Lesser Nobodies, whatever those were.

"I don't believe you…" she responded to him with her head down.

The man stood up and used two of his gloved fingers to lift her chin up so they could see eye-to-eye. He noticed that her light pink eyes were full of disbelief and confusion, the perfect emotions that Newborn Nobodies have when they find out. He pulled his hand away, allowing her to lower her head down. Then he began to turn away and walk away. He stopped when he remembered something important.

"I guess you wanted my name, right? No harm in a little intro," he stated as she looked at him as if she had given up hope. He then introduced himself to her to at least lighten the mood, "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" When he said this, he put a finger to his temple, as a gesture to remember it.

Fusa nodded and uneasily put a finger next to her temple, copying his action a bit.

"You got a name?" he inquired her with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Mine is... Fusa," she responded hesitantly in a low voice when she lowered her hand back on her knees.

The redhead, Axel, turned away to the door and opened it. He turned his head halfway to her and stated to her, "I'm going back to get Roxas. In the meantime, stay put in here until I get back. Try not to do anything stupid in the meantime. Oh, and there's an outfit prepared for you so that we can prepare you to join your fellow siblings. See ya later." Then he opened the door, went through, and closed it, locking the door and walking away into a dark portal that was waiting for him.

* * *

Moments after Axel left Fusa alone in the room, she was sitting on the edge of the bed with her head down, trying to absorb what he said to her. Even if he was telling the truth, she had doubts that she wanted to meet the rest of this "organization" he was in. She wanted to see her friends again, even if they were fake. She still remembered the words Hayner told her: "Friends never forget each other. We can never forget each other in our hearts. Even when things look bleak, we would always remember the good times we share." She repeated them in her mind as she made a decision and turned her head to the closet, where an outfit of silver gray was waiting for her. Then she stood up and walked over to the outfit.

Once getting the outfit off of the hanger, Fusa dressed into the outfit and its' shoes. Though it was a little tight, at least it had more decency than her undergarments. The outfit itself was of silver gray with a dark line running both sides of the sleeveless shirt with one zipper running down the front, a pair of matching capri pants, and matching slip-on shoes with dark caps. She also had one dark blue belt around her shorts, two matching belts that criss-cross on her chest, and two dark blue bands on her wrists and above her elbows. Last but not least, she had her silver locket around her neck, but had to tuck it into her shirt. At least it was to protect it from that Axel guy.

Now that she was dressed, Fusa directed her attention to the window close to the bed and held her hand out. She tried to remember how to summon the strange key-like weapon in her hand again or she thought that she left it for good in the fake Twilight Town. While she waited to get the weapon, she lowered her arm and hurried to get her backpack on. Once she put her backpack on, she rushed back to the window to try again.

Knowing that time wasn't on her side and that Axel would be back at any minute, Fusa had to find something to open the window with. Then she spotted a picture frame on the desk and quickly grabbed it. With it, she began to pound the glass with one of the edges of the frame, making a few cracks until the window broke, pieces falling to the ground. She made the cracked hole larger so she wouldn't be cut to pieces.

Once she got the window open, Fusa took the bed covers and made a make-shift rope from them and tied the "rope" to the bedpost so she would have something to hold onto when she makes her escape. She tugged on it three times to make sure it was secure and tight. Then she got the confirmation that it was good for a climb down, Fusa looked down the window for the distance down the rope. It was good enough, and climbed out of the window carefully, holding onto the make-shift rope.

In her escape, Fusa had her feet to the wall, to which she began to scale down the wall with the rope in her hands. She told herself not to look down lest she wanted to risk death in the escape. Then again, she was risking death from the redhead, so she was risking death twice. All she needed to do now was hope that her friends were waiting for her.

Upon coming down to the ground, Fusa landed her feet to the cobbled floor and tossed the rope to the side of the broken window before running away from the building. All she needed to do now was to find the Usual Spot… wherever it was at least. She hoped that she still has the map from the previous day in her backpack.

Back in the abandoned room, Axel unlocked the door and opened it, only to find that his captive had escaped while he was gone. He gritted his teeth with fury as he clenched his fists, knowing that the little Newborn has ignored what he told her and decided to leave. However, he found it no point to go after her at the moment. Instead, he stated to himself with a sigh as he opened his hands and scratched his head with one of them, "Looks like I gotta tell the boss about it…"

* * *

As Fusa ran, she hurried to Tram Common until she skidded to a halt and found that the man in black wasn't going after her. She blew a sigh of relief knowing that she escaped his clutches, or at least for now. She was worried that he would go after her and do worse to her to keep her from running away again. Now was not the time to think about it.

At the wall, Fusa took her backpack off and opened it to find the map, pulling it out and reading it carefully. She would have to go into the Back Alley to find it, according to the map. Once she looked in the general direction, Fusa rolled the map up and put back into her backpack before putting the backpack on and heading to the direction to the Usual Spot.

"Once I get to my friends," she told herself as she ran to the Back Alley for the Usual Spot. "We'll go out for sea-salt ice cream. Then I can get out of this nightmare." Fusa had to ignore what Axel had told her and moved on until she reached to the Back Alley and stopped to catch her breath. She was trying to remember what she and her "friends" were going to do the day before. She didn't know whether or not Axel was right about "implanted" memories being removed from her head. Still, she wanted to forget his words.

Upon arriving to the Back Alley, Fusa looked down at her outfit and brushed dust off so she would be presentable. Then she began walking to the Usual Spot entrance so she could make herself known to her friends. When entering the Usual Spot, Fusa noticed that they were hanging around rather than preparing a trip to the beach. However, they took notice of her and stood up from their seats. Her light pink eyes gleamed with happiness when she saw them again and headed deeper into the hideout.

"Guys, it's great to see you again," she stated to them as they looked at her with puzzled faces. "What did I miss while I was gone? Did you guys go somewhere without me?" She noticed their expressions and asked them again, "Is there something wrong?"

"Here's a better question: how did you know where we hang out, anyway?" Hayner inquired to her in a suspicious tone as he raised an eyebrow at her. Fusa was a little surprised that he spoke to her like that. Then he explained to her, "Listen, only we occupy this hangout. I didn't see that you got our permission to be in here, did I?"

"I thought we would hang out-" she tried to say, but was cut off by Pence.

"There's a problem: we don't exactly know each other well…" he stated to her with a slightly concerned look. "Maybe you thought your friends are here instead?"

"No, you guys are my friends," Fusa responded, trying to convince them otherwise, shaking her head. "Then prove it," Hayner tested her as he crossed his arms, "Where were we going to go to tomorrow?"

"We were-" she tried to say, but couldn't remember what. "We were… we were…" she repeated as she struggled to remember, but nothing came up. "I… I can't remember…"

"Maybe you're confused," Olette stated to her as she and Pence approached her to comfort her. "I'm sorry, but we're not the friends you think we are."

Fusa looked down with hurt, realizing that Axel was right. The friends in the fake Twilight Town were fake as well. She bonded with nothing more than cardboard replicas of the real people. She felt betrayed, lied to. Now it was pointless to convince them that she was still their friend, because she was no longer one. She looked forward, feeling pain in her eyes, and sighed to herself.

"Then I'm sorry for wasting your time…" Fusa apologized to the trio, not knowing what to do except one thing: "I need to go to the train station."

"We'll guide you there," Pence stated as the trio walked out of the Usual Spot, Fusa following behind. The only thing she wanted to do now was to leave this place as soon as possible to anywhere far away from here.

As she followed the trio, however, a few grey creatures were watching and squiggling to the Central Station, a black and gray portal opening up to let them inside.

* * *

When they arrived to Station Plaza, Fusa kept her head down with gloom, holding back tears of her pain. She looked up to see the clock tower of the Central Station and lowered her head again, following the trio. Before she could reach to the steps, she heard a sickening sound and snapped her head up with shock. She thought she recognized that sound from somewhere, until she turned around and saw a few grey creatures squiggling towards her. She realized that it was the same sound from the same creatures when she was attacked before.

Before they could go near her, Fusa held her hand out and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that the key-like weapon would return. She focused on it appearing in her hand, trying to remember its appearance from before. They stopped and twitched before making the jump on her to attack. Before they could, a flash of light forced them to jump back out of panic. Fusa felt the same leather texture gripped in her hand, so she opened her eyes to find that the weapon was in her hand again. The creatures twitched and squirmed with boneless motion as they waited for her to attack them first. However, Fusa kept on examining it, to which it started to point at them, as if it was fueled by power.

When the creatures twitched again, they made the jump again. This time, the weapon let out a ray of light that hit one of them. Fusa tried to stop it, but the ray continued to overwhelm the creature, its' zipper wriggling as if it was screaming. Without warning, it exploded into grey and black pieces, dark misty smoke coming out of the pieces. Fusa was in total shock, eyes wide and mouth gaping open. The creatures seemed to look at what was left of their comrade, then they looked at each other before teleporting away without a chance to attack Fusa again.

The 14-year-old girl looked at the vanishing pieces and back to the weapon, which it disappeared in a flash of light from her hand. She didn't know what to think of it. A weapon like that could do a lot of damage to creatures like the one it destroyed. Yet did that power come from her and transferred to the weapon? She didn't want to know it. Once she saw it was safe to go, Fusa entered into the station to meet up with the Usual Spot trio.

* * *

Inside the station, at the ticket booth, Pence was speaking to the man at the booth, explaining to him on what was going on when Fusa entered inside. He and Olette looked ahead to her as Hayner waited, since they were waiting for her to arrive since they came here first. Pence gestured over to Fusa so she could order herself a ticket for the train, to which she walked over to them and to the booth.

"One single rider ticket, please," Fusa spoke to the man in the booth.

"Destination, miss?" the man at the booth inquired.

"Anywhere from here, please," she answered to him.

"There's a train leaving for out of town soon if you're interested in that," he stated to her as he leaned in and pointed to a soft violet colored train with a wizard hat at the top and stars at the side. Fusa noticed the train and figured that as long as it was the only way to leave Twilight Town, it would be the only way for her.

"That'll do, please."

"It'll be 900 munny, kid," he responded to her with a nod.

With that said, Fusa took her backpack off and took out the munny pouch, thus prompting the three kids to become puzzled by its appearance. Olette took out her own, which had the same appearance as Fusa's own. Fusa, however, didn't notice and simply took out 900 munny for the man, to which he accepted it and gave her a train ticket in return. She took the ticket and put it in her capri pants pocket as well as put the pouch back into her backpack, putting it back on.

She hesitated going up the steps at first, feeling that despite living in a fake Twilight Town, it was still her home. The three kids looked at each other and went over to her when she didn't budge.

"Is everything okay?" Hayner asked her with concern.

"Everything's all right, yeah," Fusa responded with a fake smile, masking her hesitation from the three. Then she began her ascent on the steps to the trains.

* * *

Inside of the Station, Fusa spotted a small treasure chest close-by in the corner wall feet away from the starry train and walked over to it. She noticed that it had a orange shade with golden rims and a keyhole to protect it. Almost immediately as she walked over to it, the key-like weapon appeared into her hand in a flash of light and forced her hand to insert the teeth into the keyhole, turning to the left and unlocking it. Fusa became surprised that it could do that, yet it disappeared before she could anything.

Hoping that no one was watching, Fusa went down to one knee and carefully opened the chest up. In it was a blue jar with glitter sprinkled on it and a green flower on it, as well as a label that reads "Potion". Potion or poison- she shook her head and placed it in her backpack for later uses.

"All aboard!" the conductor of the starry train announced as Fusa snapped her head to the train, stood up, and quickly walked over to the train.

The three kids waited so they could watch her leave, yet she wanted to speak to them before leaving. She wanted to make them a promise; they expected a final goodbye.

"Are you going to come back someday?" Pence asked her as she looked at them.

"I- I can't say for sure," Fusa could only answer honestly. When she said this, her mask to hide her hesitation slipped and she frowned. "But someone once told me this: 'Friends never forget each other. We can never forget each other in our hearts. Even when things look bleak, we would always remember the good times we share.' I hope he was right."

"Final call!" the conductor called as Fusa turned her head to the train before reverting her body to the train to head over. Before she walked to the conductor, she turned her head to the three kids and sadly bid them, "Goodbye."

Then she took her steps to the train and gave the conductor her ticket and stepped inside the train. Once she got in and sat in one of the seats near the window, no one else stepped in and the door closed when the conductor stepped in to the take the reins. She leaned back against the soft cotton seat and looked up at the starry ceiling, just staring at it. She never understood why, but when she saw those three kids, she could only shed tears the harder she stared at the painted stars.

Once it was time, the train made its leave from the station and the trio. They looked to each other as if they felt something tug their heartstrings. Yet, they didn't know what it was. What was it about that girl that caused them to feel this way?

"Who was that girl, anyway?" Hayner asked as he crossed his arms in thought.

"I don't know," Pence answered as Olette looked at him. "But she seemed a bit upset…"

* * *

Inside of the train, Fusa kept her head down and her hands on her knees, trying to remember what happened in the fake Twilight Town. Yet she wondered why she was even in there in the first place. Just as she was trying to remember, a bright light wrapped around the train and space itself seemed to increase speed.

"Huh?" Fusa squeaked upon seeing light surrounding the train and teleporting it into a groundless environment. Her eyes widen and her mouth was left gaping open with surprise by what she saw.

She looked outside to find the sky was full of aurora lights of multiple shades of green and looked down to see the ground was absent, replaced with warm oranges on cloud-like surfaces much like the sun instead. It would be impossible to think of how the rails would remain still without something to hold onto it, or at least to prevent it from falling below. Fusa then noticed lush green mountaintops rising from the ground as the train drew closer to a floating island with a crooked golden brown tower and blue rooftops decorated in light stars and moons, surrounded by pine trees covered by soft green grass and a dirt pathway. She also saw that the top of the largest cone roof had two golden stars and a lone moon in the middle, much to her curiosity as she grabbed her backpack.

Before there was more to see, the train came to a halt close to the floating island, which the courtyard showed the dirt pathway to the crooked tower. The door opened to let the young girl out, though she didn't seem to exit out yet. Her eyes were fixated on the tower's appearance and the new area. However, Fusa had no other choice but to walk onto the ground, finding that it was perfectly still when she made her steps. When she started walking away from the train, it started to disappear itself. She turned her head to see it vanish into a beam of light, shaking her head while trying to believe what she saw.

"It's gone…" she mumbled to herself in disbelief.


	6. Chpt. 5- Mysterious Tower: Knowledge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now at Yen Sid's Mysterious Tower, Fusa discovers information about her enemies, what she is, and her powers. However, she will have to learn how to use the Keyblade on how to survive in the universe she lives in...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, about the attribute of Heart: don't think "Captain Planet" for a moment when you think "Heart". I actually decided to make it a little dangerous than it sounds. It is split into two categories: "Heal" and "Defeat". In "Help", there's "Fix" and "Create". In "Defeat", however, there's "Break" and "Destroy". They can either mend or hurt someone's Heart or, to an extent, their relationship with someone. It can also be used to make a creature, say a Heartless, and makes them into a fighting puppet or something like that.
> 
> In other words, "Heart" is actually much more than you THINK.

Upon her arrival to the Mysterious Tower, Fusa was walking on the dirt trail to the steps of the entrance doors. She wondered if there was someone that could be able to explain to her about the creatures that were trying to capture her as well as the weapon. However, she was nervous, too. What if the person living here rejects her presence and send her back to Twilight Town? What if the creatures are here, too? She didn't want to think about it. All she needed to do was to remain calm and polite.

Fusa then made her ascent up the steps and to the doors, looking way up at the crooked structures that waited inside. Once she fixed her shirt, she made three knocks to the right door, an echo ringing out outside. She backed up by a step by the echo, not knowing what would happen next.

A few moments later, the doors were pulled in, revealing three kind elderly women of red, green, and blue clothing at the entrance. Only the women in red and green had gray hair while the woman in blue had dark hair, yet their hats were conical with chinstraps from tinted cloth, their dresses were long-sleeved, and their broaches secured their capes. Fusa were surprised by their appearances and their manners, wondering if they were owners of the tower itself.

"Oh, come inside, dearie," the elderly woman in green spoke to Fusa as the women brought her inside and closed the door.

"There's no need to worry, dear," the elderly woman in red assured to Fusa as they brought to the stairs and led her up there.

"Oh yes, Master Yen Sid is waiting for you," the elderly woman in blue informed the young girl as they traveled up the stairs. "He was told about you from the moment the letter arrived."

"Who?" Fusa questioned out of confusion. The three women only tittered to themselves at the question. They knew that this one had yet to meet the owner of the tower himself in person.

* * *

When they reached to the largest room of the tower, the elderly woman in blue approached the doors and lifted the door handle, pulling the door out. Then she poked her head into the room, to which Fusa raised an eyebrow out of puzzlement.

"Master Yen Sid, we found a young girl here," the woman in blue spoke in a hushed voice as her fellow companions and the 14-year-old waited. "Is this the aforementioned Keyblade wielder that was to be sent to you?" Without a word, she pulled back and turned her head to Fusa, stating to her quietly, "He would like to see you right away."

The other two women, or fairies as Fusa noticed that they had small yet tinted triangular wings on their backs, looked to her so she would approach the doors to go inside. Though perplexed as to why, she stepped forward and entered inside of the room. She saw that the room was a magnificent study of sorts, holding shelves of books and windows shaped as stars and moons looking out of the courtyard. However, the door closed behind her as she spotted the owner of the tower, Master Yen Sid, and approached the desk where he sat behind. Despite not knowing if he was good or bad, she went down to one knee, placed a hand to her heart out of respect, and lowered her head.

"Rise, young one," he spoke, to which Fusa lifted her head at him and stood straight up to listen. "There is no need to be humble for the time being. After all, you've recently arrived here. Though you've arrived a few days early, it does not matter now." He examined her outfit with narrowed eyes before asking her, "What is your name, young one?"

"Fusa, sir," she answered, feeling a bit nervous.

"I am Master Yen Sid," he introduced to her in a firm tone, "A former student of mine had informed me of your presence in Twilight Town and has requested me to train you the ways of the Keyblade once you were ready."

"A 'Key-blade'?" Fusa asked in a puzzled voice, crossing her arms without knowledge of what it was.

Yen Sid nodded and explained to her, "A weapon used to protect the light and to fight the Darkness, or vice versa. I take it that you haven't summoned yours yet?"

"Actually, I…" Fusa tried to explain, but words lost her and she looked away without anything else to say. Her mind became focused with the key-like weapon, accidentally summoning it in her hand. She became surprised by its appearance in a flash of light; Yen Sid, however, remained calm by its appearance.

"Do not panic by its sudden appearance, Fusa," he stated to her serenely as she held the weapon in her hand. "Though it would be difficult to adjust to at first, your heart would relax and allow the Keyblade to appear in your hand when you need it. In your training, there will be many enemies that you will need to fight, some that will be drawn to your Keyblade while others wish to swallow the light into darkness. However, it is not the only power you have."

"It's not? What do you mean, Master?" Fusa asked him curiously.

"I have sensed a power beyond Light and Darkness when you arrived here- a power that roots from the seeds of your heart," he answered to her, using a hologram of two hearts in the right wing of the study, to which she turned her full attention to it. "You have the attribute of Heart, a peculiar power indeed, yet it is powerful. Depending on what you use it for, it can be used for good intentions and for bad intentions as well."

"Good and bad…" Fusa repeated to herself in a low voice, waiting for what would happen next.

"In the first example, the heart before you is broken from dark forces," Yen Sid began to explain, the first heart shown to be full of crack marks, "If you choose to heal it, then you can mend it." When he said this, the crack marks began to disappear with rising light. "However, if you choose to stop it, then you can break it." As he spoke this, the crack marks returned to cover the heart again. Then the hologram disappeared.

"In the second example, the heart before you is overcome by Darkness, or destroyed," he continued as the second heart was covered in a dark color, "If you choose to save it, then you can create a new heart." With that, a burst of light lightened the heart to good as new once again. "However, if you choose to terminate it, then you can destroy the heart." As he said this, the heart was broken into pieces. Then the hologram disappeared as well.

"To mend and break, to create and destroy," Yen Sid concluded to Fusa as she returned her attention to him, "Those are the abilities that the power of Heart possesses. It does not limit with just hearts. It extends to bonds as well- from bonds with yourself and to others, to those that know each other. However, it will not work on one's external appearance and memories. Nonetheless, you will use it to your advantage in your training, using the enemies' strength against each other, to boost power in your allies, and to control creatures when you need them most."

"Are there information about the enemies, sir?" Fusa asked him as her Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light.

Yen Sid then used his magic to have a large book appear before him and open as he responded to her, "When you are ready, then we will discuss the enemies in your journey. There is a map inside of the treasure chest that you shall need to venture in here. Perhaps it would help curb your ability to summon the Keyblade in the meantime."

Fusa turned her head to find a larger treasure chest by the wall of the study and walked over to it. Unlike the chest in the Central Station, where it was small and had an orange shade, she noticed that this one had a dark blue color and golden rims to protect it. Upon approaching it, she opened her hand and allowed her body to relax, thus summoning the Keyblade in her hand in a flash of light. Once it was in her hand, she inserted the teeth into the lock and turned the key to the right, unlocking it.

When it was unlocked, Fusa went to one knee and opened the chest, revealing the map as Yen Sid spoke of. She allowed the weapon to disappear in a flash of light from her hand so she could get the map out of the chest and put it in her backpack for safekeeping. Still, it wouldn't hurt to learn about these "enemies" she must fight. With the decision to know, Fusa then walked back to Yen Sid and nodded her head, indicating that she was ready.

"The enemies you will see are harbingers of Darkness- they are drawn to the Keyblade and the light's warmth," Yen Sid explained to her as she listened to him, allowing a hologram of a pitch black creature with antennas and dotted yellow eyes sniffing out its next meal. "They are known as the Heartless. They can appear from Darkness to attack worlds and their residents, with chances to multiply. Some will look like the one you see before you, others will look monstrous. Be wary of this fact!"

"Heart…less," Fusa repeated to herself in a quiet voice, processing the word in her head for memory.

Then another hologram appeared- this time, of one of the grey creature that ambushed her. Fusa took a few steps back with fear that it would be real. However, Yen Sid remained unfazed, yet aware of her rooted trauma.

"The creature you see before you is known as a Nobody, specifically a Dusk, the most common form of Nobody," he continued to explain as the hologram of the creature just stood without doing anything, "If one has a strong heart and will- be they good or evil- becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begin to act with a will of its own. An empty vessel whose heart has been stolen away… A spirit that goes on even as its body fades from existence, for you see, Nobodies do not truly exist at all."

Fusa thought about what he said for a moment. "Do I exist then?" she wondered to herself, not knowing about it.

"Nobodies may seem to have feelings, but this is a ruse- they only pretend to have hearts. Unlike the Heartless, where they attack by instinct, Nobodies can think and plan their attacks. Based on your reaction, you've already seen Dusks like the one you see before you. However, they are Lesser Nobodies- not like Organization XIII." When he said this, three holograms of men in black cloaks appeared with hoods up. "They command the Lesser Nobodies and are working for a goal- a goal we do not know of."

"What about 'Newborn Nobodies' like me? Are there any more out there? Or were?" Fusa questioned him. She wanted to know if there was more like her. He nodded and a hologram of a male a year older than her with swept up silver-gray hair, dark eyes, and an outfit much similar to hers appeared.

"Now a Newborn Nobody, like the one you see before you, is much different from the other Nobodies," Yen Sid answered to her as the hologram just stood there. "Unlike the previous forms of Nobodies, Newborns are born with hearts and they have strong yet uncontrolled powers much like you. However, they lack memories to their past and they are immaturely developed. They are created when one loses their heart yet the process for them to develop takes longer than a Nobody's process. Based on my knowledge, there has been many Newborns in the past and all, including the one you see before you, has been taken in by Organization XIII and warped into Lesser Nobodies, physically and mentally."

"But why?" she asked again.

"The Organization, it appeared, viewed Newborns as nothing more than templates to create Lesser Nobodies to increase their population and to remove the Newborns' hearts by force," Yen Sid answered again as Fusa examined the hologram carefully. "Why they would do that is unknown. The process has been proven to be traumatizing and unfortunate, considering that all have not lived long to tell the tales of what goes on. In your case, young one, you are the only reported Newborn Nobody to escape such a fate like this."

Fusa thought about what Yen Sid said to her for a minute. Whoever placed her inside of the fake Twilight Town wasn't trying to imprison her, but actually trying to protect her from this Organization XIII group, their lackeys, and that strange redhead.

"Now that you understand the enemies that you will face, the powers that you will use in your journey, and the information about what you are," Yen Sid spoke to Fusa as she listened to him and the holograms vanished, "You will be training under my wing for the next three days. In the three days, you will given knowledge of using the Keyblade and your powers at your side to control and to craft. Once the three days are over, you will be sent to Traverse Town so you will meet with your new companions for your journey. Are we clear, Fusa?"

She nodded as a response and answered to him, "Yes, Master."

* * *

Outside of the study and descending down the stairs, the good fairy in blue led Fusa to the Star Chamber with glowing stars podiums circling around the rooms. According to Yen Sid, she would be given a room of her own to stay in during her training. However, she was confused as to  _where_  it would be, judging by the outward appearance of the Tower.

When the fairy in blue approached the star podium closest to the door, she pulled out a star shaped trinket from her sleeve and held it in front of the podium, making it glow brighter, before giving the trinket to Fusa. The young girl took it and held it in her hand with a puzzled expression, but looked at the glowing podium.

"You'll need it to enter and exit your temporary chambers, dear," the fairy explained to Fusa as the latter turned her head to her, "Although it may not act as any door, Master Yen Sid wanted to keep the rooms a secret unless they have the key to the rooms."

"So there are more rooms than the tower has?" Fusa asked her with surprise, wondering if there was something that was fueling the tower to be like this.

"You could say that," the fairy in blue answered with a nod.

From a beam of light coming from the podium formed as a shape of a door with a golden star outlined on the "door". Fusa made a few steps forward before bright light surrounded her and caused her to disappear from the Chamber. However, the fairy in blue didn't seem bothered by what happened. In fact, she had a feeling that it would happen one way or another.

Inside a quaint round room with a comfortable bed near a narrow window and a moon shaped desk, Fusa opened her eyes and became in awe of what she saw. She looked around the room while still holding the trinket in her hand before putting it into her shirt pocket. On the ceiling above her, she noticed, were constellations of the nighttime sky crafted from stars surrounding lights of moon-shaped lanterns and was surprised by the amount of work used to create such a beautiful room. Once her eyes settled on the desk, she noticed a journal book that was held delicate pages with an age beyond her own and examined it.

 _It has a lock on the front, but there's no key…_  Fusa thought to herself as she put her backpack down next to the desk and picked the book up, examining it.  _That's odd, yet there's something familiar about it._

There was not a cover on the front nor information on whom it was from. Still, she figured, it wouldn't hurt to put it in her backpack. Thus she did place it in her backpack before putting it back down next to the desk and sitting down on the bed. While on the bed, Fusa decided to lay down and looked up at the constellation stars above her, still thinking about what Yen Sid had told her about what happened to the Newborn Nobodies. Was it true that she was the only free Newborn Nobody? Why would Organization XIII force their hearts out and make them Lesser Nobodies? It didn't make sense to her at all.

As she continued to think to herself, however, a knock came to her door. She sat up and stood up from the bed, using the trinket to exit the room to itself. Outside waiting for her was the fairy in red with a calm expression on her face. Fusa was slightly confused as to why; then again, there were going to be surprises at every turn for her.

"Master Yen Sid wishes to see you out in the courtyard," she informed Fusa as she led the young girl down the stairs and through the Moon Chamber.

"Thank you, miss…" Fusa answered, yet she knew not of the fairy's name at all.

"Oh, my name is Flora," the fairy answered when they exited the Moon Chamber and descended down the spiral staircase. "The others are Fauna and Merryweather, the one that showed you to your room."

Fusa nodded to show that she listened as they reached to the entry room and headed outside to the courtyard, where the other two fairies and Yen Sid were waiting for them. She noticed there were a few barrels with painted stars on the other side of the courtyard, yet she didn't know what exactly. When they joined up with the sorcerer and the two fairies, Yen Sid turned to Fusa as she listened to what he had to say.

"The first task you will do for today is to practice attacks," he instructed to her as she paid attention to him. "I understand that you are not used to physical attacks. However, in the times that when worlds are peril of the Darkness, wielding the Keyblade would remain most useful in these times of need. For now, let's start with these barrels as practice."

Fusa turned her head to find the barrels in question waiting for her and opened her right hand, to which she summoned her Keyblade without flinching this time. She felt a light flow in her system, almost as if it was the power to summon the Keyblade in her hand. If it was, she figured to herself, then it was flowing with quick grace.

"You will learn three basic attacks with your Keyblade: Thrust, Vertical Slash, and Horizontal Slash," Yen Sid explained to Fusa as he showed a hologram that demonstrated the attacks for her. "They are strong individually, yet stronger when combined in combos with each other or with

She watched as the hologram was wielding a star-like Keyblade and was facing against one of the shadow Heartless in front of him. There, he charged forward with Keyblade in hand and made a thrust of the weapon, then a vertical swing at it, and finished it off with a horizontal swing, destroying the creature entirely. Once the demonstration was over with, the hologram disappeared. Now it was her turn to try it out on the barrels.

With her Keyblade in her hand, she made steps forward to the first barrel in front of her and picked up the pace to it. Memorizing what she saw from the hologram, she gripped the handle of the weapon with both hands and made her first vertical strike on the barrel, then a horizontal strike and finished it with a forward strike. This destroyed the wood and from the wreckage, she noticed that there was a few green orbs inside of it with a distinct lime scent coming from them. She wasn't sure if those were poisonous or not.

"The green orbs you see before you are actually Health Orbs and those are dropped when you defeat an enemy," Yen Sid explained to Fusa as he walked over to her. "They can be absorbed when you approach them to restore what's been lost from your health. Munny can also be dropped from enemies as well."

"Is it safe to use the Health Orbs?" she asked him, not sure if he was telling the truth. He nodded as a "yes" to her question.

Once it was confirmed, she touched one of the Orbs, which all of the few Orbs that were dropped from the broken barrel disappeared, leaving her hand in a temporary green glow. She grew surprised that they left a remarkable key lime taste on her tongue when they were absorbed into her hand. Still , she was still surprised that she actually made her first attack on something, a barrel even. She was unaware that it was merely the beginning.

"Now that you've made your strike on the first barrel," Yen Sid stated to Fusa as she paid attention to him, "Practice the basic attacks on the other two barrels to adjust to your new strength." She cocked her head to the side without knowing what he meant by this, then realized what he meant.

She looked to the other two barrels and to her Keyblade, thinking that she could use the same technique as she used with the first barrel. Or at least she hoped there would be some Health Orbs in the other two barrels as well. Once she was prepared, Fusa then gripped her Keyblade with both of her hands on the handle and charged at the other two wooden barrels with a steady speed, repeating the three attacks she used before onto the barrels with surprising success. When both barrels were broken, a few more Health Orbs dropped to the ground around them and they were absorbed when she touched them again.

"Very good," Yen Sid spoke to Fusa as she turned to him. "As you go on your journey, you will gain more attacks and increase your health and strength to use them. To use the Keyblade takes responsibility, but I understand that you will have that responsibility." She looked at her Keyblade and back to Yen Sid as the wrecked barrels disappeared behind her and many more appeared in their place. "However, there will be enemies that will attack for their fallen comrades in multiple numbers. Remember that the Heartless is teeming in multitudes of forces despite a decline in their numbers recently. We will finish today's training with this strategy put to the test to your skills."

Once he said this, Fusa turned to see the multiple barrels waiting for the attacks and was hesitant to charge at them. Yet she knew not to let Yen Sid down if she showed her hesitance to attack them. Keeping a tight grip on the Keyblade handle, she made a slight charge at the first barrel she sees, making her first strike at it, using the same attacks as she used with the first three barrels, a Vertical Slash to a Horizontal Slash and finishing it with a Thrust, breaking the barrel completely and absorbing the fallen Health Orbs. She turned on her heels and did the same with two more barrels, unaware that the barrel she destroyed regenerated, before making the same attacks on more barrels that she locked onto. When those were destroyed, they also regenerated as well for the next strike.

Fusa struck down the last barrels before turning to find the next batch of barrels were waiting for her next move. She could have sworn to actually wreck them, albeit under Master Yen Sid's instructions. Perhaps she could be able to try again, just harder this time. So she took a tighter grip on the handle of the Keyblade and made a 180-degree turn, dragging out the Horizontal Slash to three of the regenerated barrels and absorbing the fallen Health Orbs. When the three barrels regenerated, Fusa kept focus on the other barrels, using the three basic attacks at full speed until there was nothing but wood. She used the attacks on the regenerated barrels and waited to see if anything next to Health Orbs being absorbed would happen. Turns out, however, nothing did happen. Instead, her Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light and Yen Sid walked over to her with a nod.

"Very good," he spoke as he led her away from the wrecked barrels and back to the steps with the three fairies. "Though you rushed in your technique, you've adjusted well to your new duty as Keyblade apprentice."

"Apprentice?" Fusa asked him as they ascended up the stairs to return inside.

"Yes, I am a former Keyblade Master," he answered as Merryweather pulled the door inside, letting herself and the rest inside of the Tower, "Now I have discarded the title and passed down my Keyblade to my former student. When he became Master, he returned Star Seeker to me."

"What's a 'Star Seeker', Master?" she asked him again, her curiosity peaked. After all, she never heard of a peculiar name before.

"It is the name of the Keyblade I passed down time ago, of course," he answered again to her as they arrived in the Entrance Room, "Owners of their Keyblade would discover their names. For example, young one, yours is named 'Gentle Heart' due to your power over Heart, no doubt. Perhaps it is why it has chosen you as its wielder."

Fusa was interested in what she was hearing.  _My own Keyblade has a name and I didn't even know it…_  she thought to herself as Yen Sid left her and the three fairies be in the Entrance Room. She snapped her head up and watched him walk up the stairs back to his study without another word. Before she could ask him again, however, she stopped to turn her head and found that the three fairies started to head into another room and Flora gestured to Fusa to join them in there. So she walked over to their direction so she would know more about them.

Unbeknownst to her, however, Yen Sid had stopped before entering into the portal to the first staircase leading to the Moon Chamber, watching what she would do. "Somehow," he mused to himself as he stroke his beard in thought, "There's something about this Newborn Nobody that piques my curiosity… Perhaps he can tell me when he arrives…"

* * *

Inside of the room, where mirror were covered up for unknown purposes yet have inscriptions in front of them, the three fairies were serving biscuits, cakes, and tea to each other and Fusa as they discussed to each other about many topics. Fusa, however, didn't exactly know what to say to them. She never knew that elderly women, let alone fairies, could be so human from a perspective of a non-human. There was something about them that allow her to hear their hearts beat loudly as she quietly drank her tea. Perhaps it was their light.

"Oh, we nearly forgot our guest," the fairy in green, Fauna, spoke as she served more tea politely to the 14-year-old. "I suppose you have questions for us."

Fusa nodded as a response and held the cup in her hands, asking the three fairies in a calm manner, "How did you come here? Did you arrive by train, too?"

Their expressions shifted from smiles abound to frowns as they looked down with guilt and regret in their posture. Fusa became concerned that she could have invoked an unwanted emotion into them and that they would become hostile. An unlikely chance, but they seem friendly enough.

"You see, a very long time ago," Flora began as she used her magic wand to make a biscuit appear from nothing, "We used to live in our own world with the beautiful princess Aurora and her prince. However, the Heartless invaded the world and filled it with Darkness. We were protected by Aurora before she was captured by… by…" Fusa noticed that Flora was struggling to remember who did the deed.

"Well, whoever captured dear Aurora, we were left to fend for ourselves," Merryweather added for her as Fusa listened. "Thankfully, Yen Sid and his student found us and took us in to live here, in hopes that our world would be restored to its proper place. It's been eleven years since then…"

"About a year ago, a young boy used the Keyblade himself to defeat the Heartless, and the worlds that were lost to the Darkness were eventually restored," Fauna added as well, "I do hope that one of those restored worlds would be our own. As for the wielder, he was never heard of again."

"What was his name?" Fusa inquired curiously. There was no mention of a boy before, even by Yen Sid. However, the fairies couldn't seem to answer, since they do not seem to know what his name was. As a result, she decided to herself not to ask anymore questions and sipped her tea without a word.

* * *

Inside of the dim computer room, where DiZ was watching a young boy of 15 with strawberry blond hair and a scene outfit in the Sandlot unconscious, the figure in black appeared to him with a letter in his hands. Now the man in red turned with a hidden puzzled expression and took the letter from the figure's hands. He scanned it with his eyes and made a grin to himself. He found that there were some good news in the letter.

"It seems that the Newborn has survived the ordeal with that meddling redhead," he spoke to the man in black. "According to the letter, it is now in safe hands and wielding the Keyblade like the Hero of Light."

"You said that Newborns weren't entirely dim despite being naïve," the figure in black responded as he crossed his arms out of thought. "So this one escaped the Organization member without fighting him?"

"It seems that it adapted quickly to the situations while it was inside of the virtual town," DiZ explained briefly with a nod. "Yet where Newborns rely on their masters for guidance, this one relied on the implanted memories to cling to. Removing the memories would remove its mental crutch to move on in life but it would have to grow on without it from this point on."

"This mentioned a man named 'Yen Sid'," the man in black pointed out as he reread the letter. "Why would the Newborn Nobody go to him?"

"We will discuss this another time," DiZ responded before he turned back to the computer screens. "For now, make sure Naminé has not escaped to tell this one the truth about who he is."

The man in black, however, had a feeling that it was a little late to do just that.


	7. Chpt. 6- Mysterious Tower: Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adjusted to her temporary life in the Mysterious Tower, Fusa practices fighting with her new Keyblade and learns a little more about not only her master and the three fairies residing in the Tower, but also her powers as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a little something foreboding near the end of the chapter that might shed some light of a certain mistress's return...

The next day, in the Mysterious Tower, Fusa was inside her temporary quarters asleep in her bed, while in her outfit, by the narrow window. There were no dreams to come to her this time, no thoughts came to her head, not even a memory. Simply emptiness that occupied her mind. Her sleep was fortunately interrupted when a voice woke her up to a slow start.

"Miss Fusa, dear," Fauna's voice piped up outside the door as Fusa opened her eyes and sat up on the bed, "Master Yen Sid requests that you would be served breakfast before you start your training today. We will be waiting in the Wardrobe Room for you."

She turned her head to the door across the way and scratched her head briefly with her right hand, wondering if she really heard Fauna correctly. That, and the concept of breakfast sounded fascinating to her. So she swung her legs to the edge of the bed and stood up, picked up her backpack, pulled out the trinket out of her pocket, and held it high above her head. This caused the door to glow and teleport her out into the Star Chamber, where Fauna was waiting for her. However, the fairy in green had to leave and turned to walk out of the Star Chamber, wanting the young wielder to follow behind. Fusa found this exceptionally odd, but didn't want to question it yet. So she followed behind Fauna and out into the spiral stairs after putting the trinket back into her pocket.

Down the staircase and past the Moon Chamber, Fusa had thoughts of asking Fauna much more questions if there was enough time for. It wouldn't hurt to ask more questions, or at least she hoped it would quench her curiosity.

"So, Miss Fauna," she spoke up as the fairy in green listened well. "Do you have any powers of your own, by chance?"

"Why yes, dearie," Fauna answered with a nod as they descended down the stairs, "My fellow sisters and I have special powers, though they're generally not used for fighting. We only use them to bring joy and happiness. Flora has the power to control plant life, I control the animals, and Merryweather controls the weather. But these powers are not the only ones we have."

"What do you mean?" Fusa inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"We also grant special gifts to children as early as infants," Fauna answered again to her. "My gift is that of song. Flora's gift would be beauty. Though these gifts would not be stronger than most, they are actually quite useful for good."

"What about Merryweather's gift? Does it have a connection to her power?" Fusa asked again before they reached to the portal leading to the Entrance Room.

"Well, her gift to is quite different from ours," the fairy in green answered as they stopped in front of the portal. "Though she cannot erase a problem, she simply makes a solution to it instead. Consider it a silver lining to a dark cloud, dearie. We tend to refer to it as 'hope' to an extent."

 _A silver lining to a dark cloud…_ Fusa thought to herself curiously. Perhaps her power would be the same as well.

As she thought to herself, however, Fauna passed through the portal and the young wielder followed behind down the spiral steps of the Entrance Room. There, they descended down the stairs and headed over to the Wardrobe Room, where the other two fairies were sitting by the table full of pastries, fruits, and tea. Yen Sid was nowhere to be seen in the room except for the fairies and Fusa only. Fusa herself was surprised that breakfast would be so grand and different than what she thought it would be. However, she gave a delighted smile to the elderly women and joined them at the table to eat.

* * *

During breakfast, the fairies were discussing to each other on different topics. Flora and Merryweather were bickering about which color is best to use, blue or pink, while Fauna was attempting to be the neutral peacekeeper out of the trio. Fusa, on the other hand, was too busy enjoying her breakfast; mainly her twentieth or twenty-first pastry with pieces of apple filled inside, her tenth croissant, some strawberries and blueberries, and plenty of cups of tea. All without gaining a large stomach. It was complete bliss for her, despite using a simple fork and a knife out of courtesy for the fairies, but bliss nonetheless. Not one moment did the fairies stop to speak to her, but it didn't matter. For a moment as she ate carefully yet quickly, she didn't  _want_  to be interrupted.

As Fusa was eating her breakfast and the fairies were talking amongst each other, Yen Sid entered into the room behind the young Newborn Nobody's chair. The three fairies stopped talking and Fusa turned her head to see him, for he had his arms crossed in front of his chest in a stern manner. The trio felt caught, though Fusa was unaware of what was going on. One thing was for certain for them, however: he was waiting for them in the Courtyard.

"I suppose you were having breakfast longer than expected," he spoke to them with a stern tone. Fusa winced with shame as the fairies used their magic from their wands to clean the table up and got her to stand on her feet.

"We're very sorry, Master Yen Sid," Merryweather apologized to him for her fellow fairies and the young wielder. "We lost track of the time."

"I accept your apology, Merryweather," he responded to them before giving them a reminder, "Just remember to check outside from the windows. I could also see you from where I was standing." With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke, making Fusa jump back a bit in a startled manner.

"Come along now, dears," Flora then spoke to the other two fairies as they began to fly away with their wings and Fusa watched them with awe, "We mustn't keep Master Yen Sid waiting for us in the courtyard." She stopped and turned to Fusa. "You as well, dear."

The young Keyblade wielder nodded and followed the fairies behind out of the Wardrobe Room and into the courtyard. There, she noticed that there was a contraption in place of barrels from yesterday. She wondered if her training today would involve something different than before. The contraption, she noticed, was connected to a wheel with five straw dummies holding a strange red and black heart-like symbol on their chests hung by the ropes. Nonetheless, Fusa joined up with Yen Sid and the good fairies across the way, where she saw that there was more than one contraption of the same design.

"Look before you, Fusa," Yen Sid spoke to her as she listened to him closely for instructions. "What you see before you are Training Dummies. In the past, students of the Keyblade masters used golden rings to train with. However, after the Heartless were created, there were talks of redesigning the contraptions. So, the golden rings were scrapped and replaced with the Training Dummies. In the previous training, you adjusted to the three basic attacks: Thrust, Vertical Slash, and Horizontal Slash. Now it is time to test these attacks, only this time, you will need to lock onto the moving targets. Each Training Dummy contains Health Orbs and Munny as well as Heart Orbs."

"What's a 'Heart Orb'?" Fusa asked with curiosity, repeating the words "Heart Orb" slowly..

"A 'Heart Orb' is similar to the Health Orbs," he explained to her as he showed her a hologram of a pink-shaped Orb with red filling in it, "Except they boost your powers rather than your health. When your powers run out, Heart Orbs restore them when they are absorbed. In battle, your Heart powers will be used to temporarily control your enemies, giving you great advantage of their strength. However, it would also weaken your powers' strength, so the Heart Orbs are useful to have when you defeat an enemy. So remember to use your powers wisely when you fight."

Fusa nodded as a response to him before summoning her Keyblade in her hand in a flash of light. She held a grip on the handle of the weapon, no longer afraid of holding it in her hand with assurance from Yen Sid's words. She walked forward to the training contraption and positioned herself to attack. With Yen Sid and the good fairies, however, they watched with supervision as the sorcerer himself made a flick of his wrist, creating a light gust of wind to make the wheel turn. Fusa became unaware of what he did, for she only jumped back a bit with surprise and watched the wheel turn horizontally. Mentally, however, watching the wheel turn made her brain scrambled and she shook her head to focus on her training.

She made a quick charge forward at the contraption, coil-jumped up to one of the Training Dummies, tightly gripping onto the handle of the Keyblade with both hands, and executed a Vertical Slash on it before landing on the ground on her feet. Upon impact, the Dummy's Heartless emblem was cut in half as damage, the other half falling to the dirt to the wind as the wheel turned behind her. Fusa turned and watched with her Keyblade ready and waited for the damaged Training Dummy to come around. When it did come around, as shown by the cut symbol on its chest, she followed it and made another jump up at it. This time, she made a quick combo of a Horizontal Slash and Thrust, wrecking the Dummy completely.

When it was wrecked, the rope that hung the Dummy snapped and collapsed to the ground, causing a few Health Orbs, Munny, and a Heart Orb to pop out from the body. Fusa saw this and walked over to the spoils. Where the Orbs were absorbed, she picked the dropped Munny up and placed it in her backpack. She took note that the Heart Orb had a strawberry flavor when it was absorbed into her system and that her heart felt strange. Yen Sid made a flick of his wrist again, to which the wheel stopped turning and Fusa turned to him to see if he had anything to say.

"The Heart Orbs that you collect will increase not only the strength of your power of Heart, but also the chance of greater control," he explained to her for a moment as she listened to him. "Yet they have a slim chance of boosting your powers when the strength increases. Make the best of your Heart powers while you can." Now that he had the explanation out of the way, Yen Sid made another flick of the wrist and the wheel began to turn again.

Fusa turned to the rotating Training Dummies and prepared her Keyblade to try again to see if there were any more of the Heart Orbs inside of the Dummies. With that, she made a quick run at one of them and jumped up, executing another Horizontal Slash and Thrust combo on it, causing the rope that hung it to snap and the Dummy to collapse, spilling spoils in the process. She did the combo to the next two Dummies all while collecting the fallen spoils in the meantime and landing on the ground on her feet, albeit a little unbalanced. Fusa felt a light boost of strength in her muscles, feeling as if she increased her metabolism. So she turned to another Dummy and made a jump at it. This time, however, she made an air combo of a Vertical Slash and a Horizontal Slash, cutting the Dummy in four pieces and causing spoils to spill onto the ground. She found the chance to absorb the fallen Health and Heart Orbs as well as collect the few Munny on the ground. She checked to see if there were any more, and found that there were two left.

As Yen Sid and the Fairies watched Fusa practice on the Training Dummies, the sorcerer kept his arms crossed with thought as Fauna looked at him with concern. She felt that something was bothering him yet didn't know what exactly. He knew that her concern was showing to him, but did not avert his eyes away from the Newborn Nobody once.

"Her power of Heart is a gift wielded for good, but there will be times where it would be used for the wrong reasons," he explained to Fauna as she listened yet her sisters focused on only Fusa's skills. "Her curiosity and innocence will make her a target for those with dark intentions to take advantage of her then dispose of her when they're done. If her power is not harnessed carefully, then it would prove dangerous and present her as a threat."

"But Master Yen Sid," Fauna began to ask him with unsure thoughts. "How can you be sure that the young dear wouldn't work for the Heartless?"

"The King and my former student had arranged with an acquaintance of his that Fusa will be accompanied with a couple of companions to keep her from going into the hands of Darkness," he answered to her. "Even then, only a boost in a developing morality would keep her on the path to light, even if she truly does not exist."

Back with Fusa, she waited for the remaining Training Dummies to swing back around to her direction. When they did, she jumped up between them and executed a combo of Thrust and a Vertical Slash, slightly cutting them both. But it was enough for the ropes to snap off, cause the Dummies to collapse to the ground, and spill Orbs and Munny. Once she got to the ground, Fusa then stretched her back out since it was starting to become sore and examined her surroundings a bit. She noticed that there were no more Training Dummies for now and began to collect the Munny and absorb the Orbs into her system. When she was finished collecting the spoils, her Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light and she turned to Yen Sid to see if there was something for him to say to her next.

"Impressive work, young one," he stated to her with a stern nod. "You seemed to slightly improve on your technique. Now that you know the three basic strikes, we shall move onto your Heart abilities. The next set of Training Dummies will be needed in this section of your training, the section in which you must practice your abilities."

"My Heart abilities?" Fusa murmured to herself curiously.

"You are aware of what you learned about them, are you not?" he inquired to her, but she nodded to him that she understood. "To mend and break, to create and destroy. You have been given knowledge of what your power can prove of. Now it is time for you to test your skills if you can yield to them."

Fusa nodded to him that she understood him. In truth, she was not sure if her heart could give her the proper reaction needed for her abilities. All it would take for her, naturally, would be focus and patience- both which she needs now.

She approached the next wheel of Training Dummies and stopped at one of them, confusion rising within her senses. For some reason, Fusa noticed, that she could feel some sort of a heart within the straw innards. She swore that she could have felt a heartbeat… Then she heard a loud crack and became shocked by what she heard. Was it possible that she heard a heart break? She didn't want to know.

The fractured heartbeat grew faint, one beat at a time, inside of Fusa's head. There was no telling if there was a real heart inside of the Training Dummy. She paid close attention to where it was located before raising her hands onto the heart symbol. A soft collapse caused the heartbeat to increase its sound, until it grew louder to the point of struggle. Her hands began to shake as she struggled to concentrate. As this happened, the three fairies grew concerned that the young Newborn Nobody wouldn't survive, though Yen Sid watched to see what would happen in her case. No doubt that he expected what could happen with a first timer's experience with Heart powers.

As Fusa struggled to keep control of her newfound powers, however, the Training Dummy imploded and was split in twain, its lower half collapsing to the ground. Only a few Health Orbs, two Heart Orbs, and one Munny fell out of the split Dummy. She was wide-eyed with shock and a gapping mouth by what happened. The three fairies that watched gasp with surprise though Yen Sid was unfazed; he merely sighed as if he knew what was to happen.

"Oops…" Fusa squeaked to herself with a hint of worry before reluctantly moving forward to collect the spoils, afraid the destroyed heart would either splatter or clatter to the ground. Her mind only focused on what the shattered heart would look like, thinking that it resembled cracked porcelain, whatever it was.

Upon absorbing the orbs and collecting the Munny, she was approached by the sorcerer, who had a stern expression and arms crossed in front of his beard. She looked down with shame before she could say anything else.

"Do not be ashamed of your inexperience," Yen Sid then advised to her as she looked up at him. "Though you are young, there is still time for you to harness your powers based on the path you choose. But the path you choose will not always be black or white."

"What do you mean, Master?" Fusa asked him with confusion.

"Your morality will lie in grey shades in hearts of many," he explained to her. "Either you choose to use your powers and your Keyblade for good or bad will not matter. What will matter, however, is how those you will meet will react. Some will ally you, others will wish death upon you. Some will not know what you are, others will recognize your kind from their past. It will take time for them to learn more about you or they will simply ignore you. Even then, be weary of your surroundings in your journey."

"Yes, Master," Fusa responded with a nod of her head with a growth of seriousness in her voice.

* * *

Back inside the tower, Fusa was sitting on a ladder step inside the tower's study, which was cluttered with books of old, stars and moons on the ceiling, and ink pots scattered on the tables and shelves. She was examining the journal book out of curiosity, feeling its delicate leather texture bounded by an unbreakable substance.

 _Whoever or whatever wrote the journal,_ she thought to herself as she tapped her thumb on the cover,  _Doesn't want their secrets exposed. But why would it in my chambers?_

As she thought to herself, however, Fusa heard a squawking sound and snapped her head up in surprise. She noticed that there was a purple covered cage in the study that stuck out like a sore thumb. She didn't know if Yen Sid or the three fairies told her about the squawking creature in the covered cage, but she knew it sounded distressed. It was quickly thrashing about inside of the cage violently as Fusa put the leather journal on the nearest shelf, carefully got off of the ladder and slowly approached the covered creature, not wanting to panic it. She was afraid yet curious; afraid that she would be caught by Yen Sid or the three fairies, curious to see what was in the cage.

She reached to the purple drapes and made a grip on it, pulling it to reveal a locked birdcage with a raven in it. It was squawking loudly, as Fusa noticed as she covered her ears, with unusual golden eyes and purple bags under its eyes. She also noticed that it was thrashing around in the cage, trying to escape its prison. However, by its actions, she wasn't sure if her powers could control it.

When it saw her, however, it stopped thrashing around and simply stood, staring at her suspiciously. Or at least with a grin from its beak. She grew from curious to nervous upon seeing the raven's unexpected action shift. Either it was plotting an attack on her or it was showing its gratitude towards her in a strange way. Either way, Fusa felt conflicted to either leave it caged or let it go.

She slowly stepped towards the cage, looking for a lock that was keeping the raven inside from freedom. Upon approaching the cage, the bird did not panic one bit. Instead, it eyed on her very carefully. To Fusa, however, it was unsettling and perhaps disjointing to see a bird to that. She was able to find a handle that kept the cage door and unlatched it, opening the cage door for the raven. However, as she took a few steps back away from the cage, the raven squawked and leapt out, its wings opening and taking flight. She ducked to avoid getting attacked by the bird, though it was not focusing on her.

Instead, it landed on a broken chest and picked up a black robe with an inner purple color with its beak, to which Fusa lifted her head to see the bird. She realized that it was devious and was thinking of a plan to escape. How she could be a fool to fall for that trick she would never know. What mattered now is that she has to put it back into the cage before anything else would happen. She took a chance and made a leap at it, but it took off, and she tumbled onto the wall with a loud thud. It was too late to react, for the raven was gone without a trace.

Fusa struggled to get up due to her legs hanging over her body until she toppled over and her legs hit the books. She winced upon impact, but found out that she could swing her legs so she would sit up. Once she sat up, Fusa cracked her neck so she would no longer feel any discomfort before she rolled her shoulder blades to crack them as well. Oh, the mess she made from trying to catch that bird made her blush with shame.

"How am I going to tell Master Yen Sid about this?" she asked herself quietly with worry as she placed her right hand on her head on confusion.

She would only hope that the pesky raven would not cause any more trouble than it did to her today. She also would have to hope that whatever plans it had with the robe wouldn't be worse than expected in a moment.


	8. Chpt. 7- Mysterious Tower: Guard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fusa learns how to defend herself and the benefits of using a Potion; elsewhere, Max and Gus arrive to Traverse Town to wait for the Keyblade wielder to arrive.

The next day, inside of the Wardrobe Room and during breakfast, the "escaping raven" incident was engraved in Fusa's memory, which affected her appetite. The previous day, she could eat enough to fill her stomach. On this day, on the other hand, she could barely finish one pastry. The only thing she could do, however, was curl her finger around her ahoge. The three fairies were concerned by this behavior, thinking that something was wrong with her. Neither of them could snap her of her moodiness, since they've never tried to truly comfort someone without the cause being love.

It would be Fauna that would speak up to Fusa to voice her concerns.

"Miss Fusa, dear," the green fairy spoke to the young Newborn Nobody as the latter snapped out of her mind and looked at her, "Whatever seems to be the matter?"

"Well, being that I'm a Nobody in general, does that mean that I don't exist, heart or not?" she answered, covering up the incident with a different discussion. "Master Yen Sid told me that Nobodies don't have hearts and therefore, would never exist. Does that apply to me as well?"

Flora and Merryweather turned their heads to each other with concern that perhaps the young girl was telling the truth. Yet they wouldn't attempt to make comfort for her. Fauna, on the other hand, did.

"Dearie, if I know better, I believe you're letting the negative take over the positive," she began to speak to Fusa as the young wielder looked at her, "There will be days where the bad can outweigh the good. That does not mean that every day will have bad times outweigh the good times. I suppose there can be a balance between the two."

"What do you mean, Miss Fauna?" Fusa inquired to Fauna.

"Well, what I am trying to say is to think positive thoughts," Fauna answered to her. "Doing that will help you do better actions with a peace of mind."

Fusa thought about what Fauna told her and responded to her with a smile, "I understand now. Thank you."

Once Fauna returned to her seat, the young wielder started to finish up her breakfast before the fairies noticed Yen Sid heading out into the courtyard. Fusa turned her head and stood up from her seat without a word, ignoring her supposed never-ending appetite. The good fairies noticed that there was something made her tick inside her mind as she walked over to the sorcerer before he could step foot outside. They didn't know if it was another Newborn Nobody instinct or maybe if Fusa recognized something or her past. Nonetheless, they had to follow the student out into the courtyard.

Fusa, whom had approached to Yen Sid's side, stepped outside with him. The retired Keyblade wielder knew that his student had joined him, but he allowed it since she wasn't doing any harm to him. In the courtyard, there were clumps of Training Dummies with lances for arms and empty buckets for heads with painted smiles on their faces. She found it unsettling, shuddering a bit that they would unexpectedly come to life and attack as both master and student stopped a few feet away from the Training Dummies. She turned her head to Yen Sid to see what he has to say to her this time.

"The previous two days ago, you practice on how to attack your enemies with your Keyblade and your Heart attribute," Yen Sid explained to her without turning to her. "Today, you will learn on how to defend yourself. On your journey, the Heartless will attack back, whether by hand or by their own weapons. Be on your toes when you encounter them."

Fusa nodded her head to him in understanding. She knew that she would need to be ready when and if the Organization tries to get to her again.

"You will have a basic defense attack for now," he continued to explain to her as she turned her head to the Training Dummies to examine them from a safe distance. "It is known as 'Guard' and it is one of the most crucial defenses you will know in your training. However, you must be on your toes for when the enemies will attack you. They can be swift and unpredictable. If given the upper hand, then you will be the same."

When he said this to her, Fusa looked down at her feet with confusion as if he spoke of it literally. Yen Sid, on the other hand, didn't think much of it except that he knew that it take more than mere curiosity to help her survive the journey ahead of her.

"What Guard can do is that it blocks and shoots back an attack with a parry attack using the guard of your Keyblade," he explained to her as Fusa looked up at him with curiosity, much as a student would towards their teacher, "As you go on your journey, you will learn more on how to defend not only yourself but also your party members. That, of course, will be up to you if you wish to expand your horizons to allow those into your journey or not." Fusa nodded to him with understanding of his words.

As he spoke, the three fairies joined them out into the courtyard and watched both student and master in front of them. They knew that Fusa would have her mind on more than her training at some point.

"The Training Dummies you see before you will strike at you without warning unless you keep your eyes open and be prepared for when they do strike," Yen Sid advised Fusa as she listened to him. "Remember to use Guard before you use your attacks."

"Yes, Master," she responded with a nod, masking her nervous expression from him.

Yen Sid then made a flick of his wrist, creating a clicking noise one of the Training Dummies' arm lances. Fusa gulped with growing anxiety as she summoned her "Gentle Heart" Keyblade in her right hand and approached the Dummy slowly. The lance for its arm had black and yellow candy cane swirls, its face seemed to stare at her, and its loose straws were falling down from its body. Fusa shuddered slightly as she moved forward still.

Without warning, the Dummy's lance made a thrust forward with a dull tip, nearly hitting Fusa an equal to a punch in the gut. She would have been hit had she not quickly dodged with surprise, clutching her Keyblade tightly with both hands. In fact, she wondered whether or not her master was dangerous than he appeared to be.

Yen Sid was not disappointed, but he wasn't happy either. He knew that at this rate, the young Newborn Nobody would never survive in her journey due to her skittish reaction to the Dummy's lance. Still, it wouldn't hurt for her to try.

Fusa watched as the clockwork gears clicked and recoiled the lance back to the Training Dummy's "rib" and moved back to where she was before, her left hand releasing the Keyblade as she lowered it and be prepared. She had to keep her ears open and be on her toes for the lance to thrust again. She lifted her Keyblade up and clenched the handle in both of her hands, biting her lower lip with uneasiness.

Before she could attempt to strike at the Dummy, however, the Dummy's lance made a thrust to her stomach, hitting her hard and causing her to drop her Keyblade and fall to the ground, wincing and holding her stomach in her arms. The three fairies tried to fly over to Fusa with concern; Yen Sid, on the other hand, didn't think of it as a problem and stopped them from helping her. Fusa held her stomach in pain, groaning from this excruciating pain, feeling as if there was a rupture in her insides burning from the inside out. Yen Sid continued to watch before making a wave of his hand, a green dust brushed in the air. The same green dust floated over Fusa's stomach, going inside of her as if it was medicine. Once the green dust faded into her body, however, she no longer felt pain in her stomach, looking down to find that the pain was gone.

"Remember to use Guard, young one," Yen Sid reminded her in a stern tone with just enough volume for her to hear him as she stood up on her feet and picked her Keyblade up from the ground.

Fusa thought to herself in a light chant as she prepared herself again to the Training Dummy once its lance arm recoiled back to its side again,  _Remember to use Guard, remember to use Guard, remember to use Guard, remember- to- use- Guard!_

Before the Training Dummy made a thrust at her with its dulled lance, however, she turned her guard of her Keyblade down, causing the lance arm to hit the Keyblade and to shake, giving Fusa enough time to step forward with one foot and execute a 360-degree Horizontal Slash below the shoulders, knocking it to the ground. From there, a few Health Orbs, Heart Orbs, and Munny were dropped to the ground. Fusa noticed the spoils on the ground and walked over to pick the dropped Munny up and absorb the fallen Orbs into her system.

However, something caught her eye and she looked to see what it was. Fusa went down slowly on one knee to examine it- it was a Potion, one that looks exactly like the one she found in Twilight Town. Once she placed the Munny in her pants pocket, the Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light and she picked the Potion up from off the ground to examine it. Since she didn't bring her backpack with her, Fusa knew that she wouldn't compare the one she has already side-to-side.

She turned her head to see if Yen Sid needed anything and found that he was gesturing to her sternly to come to him. Quickly getting the gesture's meaning, Fusa stood up and brought the Potion to her master.

"Master Yen Sid, is there a chance that you know what this is?" she asked him when she approached him.

"It seems that you've come across one of these before," he spoke to her as he took the Potion out of her hands and began to examine it carefully. "Potions are important on your journey as they will heal a margin of your health from any wounds whenever your injured in a battle with the Heartless. I will advise you to save them when you find more and only use them when you need to. It is not the only item that will heal you or your party. Advanced Potions, Hi-Potion and Mega-Potion, are much more complex since they heal more of your health than Potion would."

"In other words, this jar that contains whatever's in here can heal my wounds- inside and out?" Fusa asked as Yen Sid returned the Potion to her so she would examine it. He nodded firmly to her question as she looked at him.

It was strange yet fascinating to hear this. Now she understood what it can do if used properly. Yet what would be the smell of the Potions, she wondered to herself. Would they be of different scents and flavors? Would they be of unison scents? The possibilities are endless, all tempting Fusa for a small taste.

However, she had to ignore her gut and walked over to nearby the staircase ascending to the Tower's entrance. There, she carefully placed the Potion down and walked back to Yen Sid and the three good fairies, seeing if her master needed her to do anything else. He didn't seem to wait for her to walk back to him- he knew that she would approach him to see if there was more for her to do.

"Although you bounced back from your first attempt to use Guard, you will need to practice Guard with a few more Training Dummies," he spoke to her as she listened to him and nodding with each pause, "Remember to use it when you combine attacks, for this will be more effective in your favor. When you are finished, then we'll discuss more on what is ahead on your journey."

Fusa nodded in understanding and summoned her Keyblade in a flash of light in her right hand again as she walked to the Training Dummies. She knew that she would have to be quick on her feet this time, especially that the Dummies had different styled lances and even strange colors and faces, not much like smiles. This made her wary of the Dummies, gripping the handle of her Keyblade as she stopped a few feet away from one of them. There, she swung her Keyblade up and prepared herself for the Dummy with a strange blue and red swirled lance for a hand to strike at her.

She listened for clicking gears to lead to silence similar to last time and waited for the Dummy to strike with its lance. When there was silence, the Dummy made a thrust of its lance, to which Fusa was able to Guard, causing it to shake as well and allowing her to use a Horizontal Slash on it as well. She moved on to the next Dummy and used Guard when it tried to strike at her as well, moving onto the next Dummy to do the same when it tried to do the same to her, and her actions and reactions became a new pattern in the day's Training. Sometimes she would use Horizontal Slash with Guard, other times with either Vertical Slash or Thrust to combine with her new skill.

Yen Sid watched as Fusa began to naturally flow her new skill once she started to combine attacks with Guard, not wanting to stop. He was intrigued by the quick switch that had occurred from her reaction to Guard itself, from hesitant to try to giving it a chance. He saw that there was more smooth flow than before in her technique, less holding back from defending herself and striking back. Despite having close brushes with being injured, and in some cases, only received bruises on her lower and upper arms when she almost missed the lances and they roughly brushed at her arms instead.

When she reached to the final Dummy, Fusa stopped for a moment to catch her breath, not wanting to pass out too quickly. She placed her hand on her knee and started to inhale and exhale slowly, sweat coming down her brow. She didn't know that the amount of training for Guard would be different and required her to do push her limits. Exhaustive, but it was effective as well. Once she was able to catch her breath, Fusa then stood up straight and stood her ground with her Keyblade, just as the Dummy thrust its lance at her. She Guarded with her Keyblade and then applied Horizontal Slash across its arms and torso, leaving the Dummy in pieces.

Upon seeing a trail of spoils both behind her and in front of her, Fusa brushed her hand at the Health and Heart Orbs, absorbing them, and collected the fallen Munny to put into her pockets for her backpack. When the Health Orbs were absorbed into her body, however, Fusa felt recharged and the bruises on her arms were gone. She was surprised to see her arms clear of bruises and that her body no longer felt worn down or even faint. Nonetheless, she walked past the torn Training Dummies and her Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light and approached Yen Sid and the three fairies.

"Well done, young one," Yen Sid spoke to Fusa as she listened to him and the three fairies became more than happy to hear this, "Your technique is improving. Although your Guard still needs work, your basic attacks are appearing better and the defense skill you learned appears well-equipped with the attacks."

"Am I going to practice Guard some more?" Fusa asked Yen Sid with curiosity and a hint of eagerness.

"Your training is finished for the day, but there's much more that we shall discuss," he answered to her in a stern tone. "Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather will explain to you about the different environments of different worlds and how they will prepare you on your journey when you venture to one of the worlds of different environment."

He then turned and started to ascend up the stairs to the doors of the tower, the three fairies following him and Fusa grabbing the Potion by the stairs before joining them up the stairs and into the Tower.

* * *

In the Wardrobe Room, Fusa was looking at some of the covered mirrors as she was waiting for the three good fairies to return. She had already placed the second Potion in her backpack and brought the backpack itself outside, as she was wearing it. Yen Sid instructed her not to peek what's in the looking glass, but she was reading some of the inscriptions in front of the mirrors. The first she noticed caught her eye and she read the first inscription, tinted with red and decorated with strange identical symbols.

" 'An image of you utilizing your strength to its fullest flow into your mind'," she read quietly to herself before commenting to herself, "How curious…"

She noticed another covered mirror with an inscription as well. This time, the inscription for the second mirror was tinted with blue and with light blue flame symbols. She tilted her head with curiosity and read the second inscription to herself.

" 'An image of you utilizing your magic to its fullest flows into your mind.' How strange…" she spoke to herself quietly.

Fusa turned to see another covered mirror and walked over to it as well. This time, she saw the inscription was tinted black and had claw marks around the words, almost as if someone was trying to destroy it. Nonetheless, she read the third inscription.

" 'An image of you overcome by the power of darkness flows into your mind.'," she read to herself and shook her head with shock by the idea of wielding Darkness instead of the Keyblade. "That doesn't sound good…"

Before she could read more inscriptions in front of more covered mirrors, however, she noticed three balls of light of tinted red, green, and blue enter into the room. She raised her eyebrow with confusion before the balls of light took form as the three good fairies, much to Fusa's relief to know what they are now. There, she walked over to them to see if there was something they have something to say.

"Why, dearie, have you been waiting for us?" Flora asked Fusa with surprise, to which the Newborn Nobody nodded her head as an answer to the question.

"Master Yen Sid has asked us to give you information about different Worlds," Merryweather explained to Fusa as she listened to them closely. "He also instructed us to give you magic so that you would change appearance depending on the world's environment that you go to. Your companions have already been equipped with the same magic as well, so that you and your companions would blend in the World as well. Now your journey may not be easy, but the different Worlds would have allies as well. It depends if they want to help, of course."

"If you want to, dear, then we can also give you a new set of clothes as well," Fauna suggested to Fusa as the latter looked down at her outfit she had wear when she was brought into the real Twilight Town. However, she grew a liking to the outfit.

"It's alright, madams," Fusa politely declined the suggestion as she shook her head as a "no", "I'm actually comfortable with wearing this."

The fairies were astonished by the answer, but they didn't want to push Fusa into changing her mind. Fauna, on the other hand, felt relieved that her sisters wouldn't have to squabble about which color would be best on the young girl. However, the three good fairies prepared their magic wands in their hands and, with a twirl of their wands, they made a flick of their wands and released magic to Fusa. She thought that the amount of magic would change the color of her clothes; however, her clothes remained unchanged, so did her backpack. This gave her some relief, but it also confused her as well.

"If you're wondering why it looks the same as before, there is a difference with both yourself and your outfit now," Flora spoke to Fusa as the young 14-year-old listened to the good fairy carefully, "Your outfit is gifted with the ability to blend in depending on the world you and your companions go to. Now the journey will not be an easy one, but you must not give up hope, child. We will wish you well when you go."

Fusa's lips pursed into a smile with hope gleaming in her light pink eyes. The three good fairies were happy to see that the student of the former Keyblade Master has been given hope after what has happened to her. She walked forward to the good fairies and gave a nod of her head, responding to them kindly, "Thank you." With that, she headed out of the Wardrobe Room and ascended up the spiral steps to her temporary quarters in the Star Chamber to read for a while.

* * *

In the now silent town once known as "Traverse Town", the young Knight Max Goof and the Gummi Ship pilot Gremlin Gus explored the abandoned town with uncertainty and slipping courage. They were not told that the town was being over swept with Darkness, especially that it was about to become a "Sleeping World". Both had no knowledge of what Sleeping Worlds were, but they knew that it does not sound good. Max held his skateboard in his hands as he carried his backpack on his back and Gus floated by his side, his eyes shifting for any Heartless to attack them.

"Hey, Gus, what's taking the Keyblade wielder so long?" Max asked to lighten the mood a bit.

"Max, now's not the time for riddles," Gus responded as he brushed his gray mustache over his upper lip. "You know that Gremlins are not very good with riddles. Excellent at engineering, poor at jokes."

"I was trying to be helpful, y'know? And that wasn't a joke- it's like the Keyblade wielder is taking forever to get here," Max explained as they continued to search for a location to rest for a while until the appointed Keyblade wielder would arrive. "What if he gets here after this place goes out?"

"Lad, I would rather compare this town to a candle," Gus spoke as he tried to be helpful for the Knight to calm down, "When the flame is out, there's always a chance that you can relight it."

"I thought you said that you're not good with riddles," Max said to Gus in a sarcastic tone.

"It's not a riddle, Sir Maximillian," Gus replied with a slight groan of frustration to even cope with the teenager Knight, and explained to him in a stern manner, "It's a metaphor. Never mistaken a riddle with a metaphor, lad."

Max heard the Gremlin mechanic call him by his real name, and frowned with a growing gloom, as his father has called him that before, especially during a summer vacation trip for his father's attempt to teach him to go fishing with him. Gus noticed his fellow man's gloom and sat on his shoulder for comfort.

"My apologizes, Max," Gus apologized to Max, who looked at the Gremlin on his shoulder. "I shouldn't have said that. And chin up, lad; your father's bound to be proud of you when he finds out that you went on a journey outside of the Castle. You'll see him again someday. He's with the Mage, so he will be all right."

Max smiled at the Gremlin's words and his thoughts were now soothed by the idea of his father being all right, especially with a duck of a Mage. As they wandered in the empty Traverse Town, however, the two heard a loud noise and their fears heightened again. Then they knew that there was something in the World and it didn't sound good.

"Can I start walking fast?" Max asked Gus with slight panic in his voice.

"Go right ahead, lad," the Gremlin answered with a nod and the Knight began speed-walking to get away from the loud noise as fast as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the things that I wanted to try out would be what would be it like if someone was injured in the KH universe. But because I'm writing the story in a semi-realistic way since it's not a video game, I had to make sure that the injuries are plausible and realistic when it comes to fighting and whatnot.
> 
> Basically, the pain that Fusa first experiences would be like having your intestines or stomach ripped apart. That's how much it hurts.


	9. Chpt. 8- Mysterious Tower: Heartless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, a mysterious King comes to the Tower to alert Yen Sid and Fusa of the Heartless and Fusa is sent off to her journey. On her way to the train, however, she is faced with her first real fight against the Heartless...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pete makes an appearance in the story, though he won't appear in the story again after this. I know that he's a bumbling fool in the actual game series, but for Fusa to have the impression that he's threatening, well... you'll probably take a look and see why.
> 
> Also, although that this is taking place during "KHII", I've decided to include some elements from the other games in the series as well, including "Birth By Sleep". This way, not only would I be making nods to continuity, but also making some foreshadowing in a way.

The next day, in Yen Sid's study, where Fusa was in along with her master, she was reading on the history of Light, Darkness, and the creation of the first Keyblades known in time in a large dark leather-bounded book and delicate pages. She was sitting on top of the large treasure chest that she found the map of the Tower in and her backpack was resting by the chest itself. Her light pink eyes quickly scanned the paragraphs and descriptions of the written word on each page before turning the page. Yen Sid, on the other hand, took his time with writing a letter and looking up to see his young student. He was intrigued by how she was gathering knowledge from such a heavy book with a knowledge of heavier weight. He knew that she would be, perhaps, better suited with this knowledge on her journey if she is needed to survive.

As she was reading, however, Fusa noticed an aged drawing of a blue heart surrounded by light and became curious as to what it was. She read the description below the drawing:  _"Kingdom Hearts"_. She looked up with confusion, not knowing what that could mean, and got off of her seat with the book open, walking over to Yen Sid to see if he knows.

"There's something you wish to discuss to me," he spoke without looking up at his student.

Fusa was surprised that he predicted that she would ask him a question. Nonetheless, she would need to ask him, with or without his prediction.

"Yes, Master," she responded and began to ask him curiously, "What is 'Kingdom Hearts'?"

He stopped writing the letter and looked up at Fusa, who started to feel that she shouldn't have asked the question to him. However, he had to answer to his student, perhaps that she would know for her journey.

"Very well, then," he responded to her with a hesitant nod and she began to listen to what he had to say.

"In the 'age of fairy tales', when the World was whole," he explained to Fusa as she listened to him, "There was a great force known as 'Kingdom Hearts', which many believed to be the source of all Light. It was protected, but many came to desire the power of Light contained inside of Kingdom Hearts, and they clashed together, creating the first Keyblades."

"Wielded from this 'X-Blade'?" she asked him and he nodded in an answer.

"Greed and jealousy introduced Darkness into the World, and the Keyblade War erupted," he continued as Fusa became surprised by the mentioning of this "Keyblade War" from her master, "Many lost their lives in the battle, and the X-blade was shattered into twenty pieces: thirteen darkness and seven light. The Darkness shrouded the World forever and Kingdom Hearts was lost to the Darkness as well."

Once he was finished, Yen Sid then lowered his head and began writing the letter again, finishing it up and using his magic to wrap it and placed his signature stamp on it before making it disappear to deliver it. As he was doing this, Fusa was watching him using his magic.

"The good fairies mentioned that a boy saved the Worlds from Darkness a year before- who is or was he?" she asked him as she closed the book carefully.

Before Yen Sid could answer, however, there was a knock at the door, to which Fusa snapped her head to the door with confusion. It was an urgent and important toned knock, not unlike any of the good fairies. He turned his head to his student and nodded his head for her to go and open the door to see who it was. She put the book down on the desk carefully and walked over to the door, and opened it. Running past her was a figure half her size in the Black Cloak with two large mouse ears, making her gasp and summon her Keyblade in her right hand in a flash of light out of defense. Yen Sid, on the other hand, was unfazed by the figure as the figure itself stopped in front of his desk. It, too, had a Keyblade- one resembling much her own, except it was gold and silver with a red rainguard, teeth resembling a crown, and a golden keychain with a golden mouse head token at the end of the chain.

Fusa was flabbergasted by what she saw with her own eyes: an Organization member wielding a Keyblade. Yen Sid, however, was not bothered by what he saw.

"It has been quite a while, Your Majesty," he spoke to the figure as Fusa listened to their conversation with each other.

"Master Yen Sid, I've received word about Sora's condition," the figure spoke in a falsetto voice, though it was serious and urgent, "He's woken up after a year in sleep. However, the Organization is on the move. They'll try to attack him, especially since he doesn't know what they are or what they want."

"He shall receive information on Organization XIII and the enemies he will face on his journey," Yen Sid spoke with a nod of his head. "Is he on his way here?"

The King nodded in confirmation, but he asked the retired Keyblade Master, "What about the Newborn Nobody? Does it know how to wield the Keyblade?"

Yen Sid nodded and looked at Fusa to join them, though she was confused to what was going on. Nonetheless, she walked over to where he was and stood next to him, to which the mouse King looked up to see her as well as her Keyblade. Rather than surprise, his eyes showed disbelief and shock. This confused her, for she thought that he didn't know that the Newborn Nobody in question- her- would be female. In truth, however, it was not the same.

"Your Majesty, this is the Newborn Nobody that you requested me to train for her Keyblade training with," Yen Sid explained to the King as Fusa tilted her head to the side with a puzzled expression, looking at the unusual sized mouse, "She has been taught the basic skills needed for her journey."

"However, there has been some Heartless surrounding the Tower, Master Yen Sid," the King spoke to the sorcerer in a hushed voice as Fusa started to listen for a bit, "She needs to head to Traverse Town immediately, where her companions are waiting."

"Companions?" Fusa asked curiously, which both the sorcerer and the King looked at her with confusion. She blushed with embarrassment before she could ask any more.

A dark scent, however, caught their attention and they turned to outside of the door and descending down the staircase. Both Yen Sid and the mouse King grimaced when they recognized the scent; Fusa didn't know what it was. The King prepared his Keyblade and rushed out of the study, as the Newborn Nobody turned her head to see if her master knew what was going on. Yen Sid crossed his arms and walked over to her as she watched him do so, though she was starting to get nervous as to what was going on.

"Keyblade Wielder of the Heart, this is where your basic training is put to the test as of now," he spoke to Fusa as she listened with disbelief. "You will need to go to Traverse Town to begin your journey officially. There, you will be joined by two figures from the King's world: the Knight and the Gummi Ship pilot. They will ensure that you will stay on the path of Light. The forces of Darkness will use the Corridors of Darkness to travel, for anyone that travels there without protection would succumb to the Darkness and its terrible influence. Nobodies will use the Corridors as they please, but at a cost. I will advise you not to use the Corridors under any circumstances."

Fusa nodded in understanding. Although she has never seen what the Corridors looks like, she was most likely certain that the Organization would see her if she was there, out in the open.

"What about you, Master?" she asked him with an unsure feeling. She didn't want to leave him or the three good fairies to fend off the Heartless by themselves. To her, it would feel wrong to do so.

"Do not worry for me or the good fairies, young one," he responded to her as she listened to him still. "We will be safe from the Heartless, for I would use my own skills to protect us from the Darkness and their influence."

Fusa nodded in understanding before both student and master noticed a large cat-like figure with belts and zippers in blue and red shouting commands at the Heartless. She was puzzled again by what she saw, much like how she saw the mouse King. However, she knew that this one was trouble as creatures in black and with yellow eyes disappeared without a trace. Yen Sid, on the other hand, knew what the creatures are.

"Are these the Heartless you told me about, Master?" Fusa asked as she took steps back away from the window, her Keyblade in hand.

"Yes, young one," Yen Sid answered with a nod. "You will need to head down to catch the next train to Traverse Town. Go, Fusa, while you still can. And be careful on your journey, for it will not be an easy one to take."

Before she could protest, she knew that there was little she can do except to leave and fight off the Heartless on the way out into the Courtyard. She would have to obey her master's words, no matter what the results would be. She sighed without an attempt to protest anything that he spoke and looked at him before nodding her head in understanding. With that, she gripped her Keyblade in one hand and started walking to grab her backpack before exiting the room. As she left, Yen Sid watched and returned to his desk, sitting down in the chair and waited for what would be to come. He made the flick of the wrist for protection from the oncoming enemies and their commander, whatever the cost would be.

* * *

Fusa ran down the descending stairs, her Keyblade in hand. She knew that Yen Sid would be counting on her for her new skills to be put to the test with the Heartless. She felt scared, but knew that she would need to be brave. Upon reaching to the Moon Chamber, however, there was a handful of black creatures close to her size with yellow eyes, the same as outside of the Tower. She screeched to a halt and stared at them with a sick feeling. Her hand holding the Keyblade began to shake slightly, but the creatures- the Heartless- took notice of her and started to crawl towards her.

"Think about your training, girl," Fusa spoke to herself in a whisper as she hesitantly held her Keyblade up to prepare fighting them, "Don't think about the Heartless, just pretend that they're Training Dummies. Think that they're Training Dummies."

She exhaled and made her first move on one of the shadow-like Heartless before it could leap up and claw at her, executing a combo of Thrust and Horizontal Slash at it before sidestepping to Guard, Horizontal Slash and Vertical Slash at another Heartless. With each strike, it injured the two Heartless and eventually killed them, leaving only a bit of Munny and the Health and Heart Orbs behind. Fusa moved onto more of the Heartless, using her skills to fight, until they were killed and faded into the void, leaving behind a bit more Munny and the Orbs. She hurried and collected the spoils before opening the door to descend down the stairs to the Star Chamber.

On her descent down the spiral steps, Fusa noticed more of the shadow-like Heartless that try to go after her and to claw at her. She dodged at some of the them, but others clawed at her arms, leaving sets of thin dark red three claw marks, leaving her to strike back. Although the marks were bleeding slightly, she didn't notice. Using Vertical Slash, Horizontal Slash, and Thrust to attack when they try to attack and Guard to defend herself, Fusa was able to defeat the second batch of Heartless before collecting more of the Munny and the Health and Heart Orbs. From absorbing the Health Orbs, the claw marks on her arms began to fade away little by little, though they were not fully gone. She also felt her Heart powers being boosted up, and she began to wonder if she could try her powers on the Heartless. Or at least, if they even have hearts. So she made her descent down the Star Chamber to continue her trek to reach the train to Traverse Town, wherever it was.

Once she made into the Star Chamber, there was a third batch of the shadow-like Heartless. This time, though, they were joined by odd soldier-like Heartless creatures with silver helmets, bright red claws, blue skin, yellow eyes, and an odd heart like symbol of black and red cracks. The soldier-like Heartless were slightly taller than the shadow-like Heartless, but Fusa found them to be a threat as well. Nonetheless, she had to defeat them in order to get into the Entryway to catch the train outside.

When the Heartless saw her, the Shadow Heartless and the Soldier Heartless batch started to go after her as well, the Shadows leapt at her and Fusa used Guard against them before using Horizontal Slash on them before moving onto the Soldiers. However, when she moved to fight back at them before they could claw at her as well, Fusa felt that she was spinning them around like a Cyclone with her Keyblade and then throwing them to the wall, killing them and they left behind spoils when they dissolved into Darkness. She stopped and realized what she did and looked at her Keyblade with bewilderment. Either it was making her do odd attacks on a specific enemy, or she had learned a new attack. Nonetheless, she continued her fight with the third batch of Heartless and the Star Chamber was empty again except for her and some fallen spoils.

Fusa quickly collected the fallen Munny and Orbs, healing the marks completely before noticing an odd-colored shard and picked it up off of the ground. It was purple and crescent shaped, something that she's never seen before. She wondered if it was something that they have stolen from Yen Sid. But she knew, in her heart, it was too late to go back to her master now. So she placed the purple crescent shard into her backpack and made her way out of the Chamber to descend down the stairs.

On her descent down, however, three more Shadow Heartless appeared from the ground and made their way up to attack her as well. Fusa defended herself with Guard again, but one of the Shadows slinked into the ground and began to crawl up the steps like an actual shadow. She watched it before it came out of the ground again she swung her Keyblade with a Horizontal and Vertical Slash on it, killing it and it dissolved into Darkness as well. As she fought off the Shadows, one of them swiped its claws multiple times, scratching her arms again, as she shielded herself with her arms. She used Vertical Slash and Thrust on the other two Shadows, which they then dissolved into Darkness as well.

She looked at the fallen Munny and the Health and Heart Orbs, where the Health Orbs again caused the marks to fade away little by little, before moving to pick those up as well and hurried her descent down the stairs and into the Entryway. In the Entryway, she noticed that there was no Heartless in it, yet she knew that she would not take any chances at that yet. There, she noticed that there was a small treasure chest in the corner by the stairway and walked over to it with curiosity. Fusa figured that she would have time to open some treasure chests before she leaves for the train outside.

There, she grabbed a fallen curtain and wiped off the dark remains of the dissolved Heartless and wiped the teeth and guard of her Keyblade before she inserted the Keyblade into the lock of the treasure chest and unlocked it, opening it. There revealed an orange covering with a sticker that reads "Tent" at the front. Fusa put her Keyblade down by her side, took her backpack off, and picked the Tent up to put it in the pack along with the two Potions and the journal book she decided to bring along. She closed her pack and put it back on her back again before picking up her Keyblade and standing up to exit out of the Tower.

However, she remembered that the Heartless Commander was outside and became fearful that he would see her and get the Heartless to attack her. She knew that it would be a risk to take, but it would be one she would have to take if she wants to survive. So she began to run to the doors leading to the Courtyard and opened the right door handle with all of her strength while her Keyblade was in her right hand.

Once she got the door open, Fusa looked outside to find that a maroon colored train was waiting for her, but that the Heartless Commander was speaking to the twitchy Shadows and lanky Soldiers by the side. She gasped to herself and cowered with alarm that either the Heartless or their Commander would take notice of her and try to either contain her into the Tower or to attack her as well. Nonetheless, she swung the door wide open and quickly ran down the stairs of the Tower and out into the courtyard, making a run towards the train. Before she could reach it, however, one of the Shadow Heartless noticed her and began jumping up and down wildly, causing the Commander to stop talking. Fusa stopped running and watched what the Heartless was doing before having a sick feeling in her heart. Something was wrong, and she knew that there was going to be trouble.

"Whaddya think you're doin', jumping around like that?" the Commander barked at the jumping Heartless in an deep booming voice. "I didn't pay ya to jump- I didn't pay ya anything, so I suggest ya-" He stopped when the Heartless began to point at the young Keyblade wielder behind him.

Fusa saw what the Heartless was pointing at and ran over to the train with panic, closing the sliding door. The door made an echoing thud when it was closed, causing the Heartless Commander to hear it with small cat ears pointing up and turned his head to see. There, he chuckled wickedly and charged to the train door, banging his large fists at the train door and attempting to open it. On the inside of the train, Fusa yelped in fear when the Commander was trying to open the train door and struggled to keep him from opening the door. She knew that his large size would also mean that he would have large strength as well- she would be at a disadvantage if she fought him.

"Come on out, ya little pipsqueak, see!" he threatened as he banged on the door again and Fusa tried to find a lock to keep him out. "Don't make me rip this here door of its hinges! Nobody, and I mean  _nobody_ , messes with the Mighty Pete!"

As she struggled to keep the train door closed from the Commander, Fusa had an idea on how. She looked her Keyblade and the gap between the train door handle and the handle close by, knowing that he would not be able to get the door open if she used her weapon to prevent him from the door. With that, she briefly released the door handle and quickly placed the guard of the Keyblade through the two handles, the teeth of the Keyblade locking it into place. There, Fusa waited with nervous anticipation to see if her idea worked.

She heard the Heartless Commander struggle to open the door by its handle with the Keyblade shaking a bit, her heart beating quickly before the shaking stopped she heard some grumbling from the outside. However, she feared that he wasn't gone yet.

"Just you wait and see, kiddie," the Commander warned her in a seething tone as he clenched his fists with bitter anger and she listened with her ear to the door, "I'll see to it that that old sorcerer Yen Sid will become a Heartless under my control and become my personal bodyguard, special for me."

Fusa heard the Commander's warning and covered her mouth with shock, fearing that he would try to do so. But before she could speak, the train made a jolt and began to move on the railway tracks. There, she watched at the Commander turned his attention to the Heartless and pointed to the Tower as the train moved farther away from the floating section of land, to which the Heartless began their rush to the Tower to begin their assault. She removed her Keyblade from the handles and allowed it to disappear in a flash of light as she hurried to the dark red cushioned seat by the window and watched with worry.

"Master, no…" Fusa spoke to herself quietly in a feeling of helplessness, the Mysterious Tower and the floating land it rested on now seemed smaller.

It was too late to return now; she was on her way to Traverse Town.


	10. Chpt. 9- Traverse Town: Omnipresent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fusa arrives to Traverse Town, but a mysterious boy, some Heartless, and odd-colored creatures will prove to her that her journey will be dangerous...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always wanted to know what has happened to Traverse Town after the first game and before it became a Sleeping World in "Dream Drop Distance", always thought that it became a decaying ghost town when it became abandoned. So I decided to write it as not what you remembered from the games.
> 
> Speaking of "Dream Drop Distance", we get to see some Dream Eaters as well and a character from the game as well...

As Fusa was nervously sitting down on the cushioned seat and held her backpack in her arms, she couldn't help but worry about Yen Sid and the three good fairies back at the Mysterious Tower. She feared that the Heartless and its commander, the big and strange cat-like creature with a large zipper, had already destroyed the Tower, or even worse killed them. She wished that she could have gone back to fight off the Heartless commander before leaving, but it was too late. She only hope that her master and the good fairies would be all right.

However, she felt the train screech to a halt and looked outside of the star-shaped window with curiosity. A crooked wooden sign hung that was written as "Traverse Town Station" hung by a nail with faded benches by the tracks behind the fenced gates. She noticed that there was no one there at the terminus itself and found that it was abandoned, completely silent and dead. Yet she realized that she was in Traverse Town and stood up on her feet to exit out of the train. She opened the sliding door of the train and looked with shocked light pink eyes at the cold emptiness of the world.

 _This can't be right…_  Fusa thought to herself as she grabbed her backpack to put it on her back and stepped out of the train and onto the railway platform of the terminus.  _Master Yen Sid didn't mention that Traverse Town was a ghost town. Or is it "ghost world"? Whatever the term is, I need to find the two companions before the Heartless does. Maybe they already did! Keep it together, Fusa, you've already escaped that Organization guy and the Heartless commander that called you a "pipsqueak". Everything's gonna be all right, yeah._

She gulped with fright and began to make her walk away from the train and up the rickety cobblestone steps, unsure if the steps would crumble at her feet or not. This place, she noticed, was unlike Twilight Town and the Tower. The buildings looked worn out and clawed, the streetlamps were dim and broken, and the colorful banners were dull and ripped. Signs to the shops were barely recognizable and the window panes of the doors were shattered. She grew petrified that the Heartless have caused a carnage in the town, hence its silent sound. It was inhuman, but it was something that was nigh incomprehensible. Almost as if it came out of a nightmare.

Fusa then took careful steps down the wide steps as she read faded yellow sign hanging on its rusty hinges with arrows and dull colored lights surrounding the words. The sign said "Traverse Town", but she couldn't believe it. Either it was a world for the Heartless to mingle in or it was really a ghost town.

As she walked by the twin broken crooked streetlamps, however, Fusa jumped with fright upon hearing a loud clang on the other side of town. When she jumped, she summoned her Keyblade in her right hand in a flash of light and tightly gripped it in both of her hands out of defense. She shook slightly in a panic, her eyes shifting to the sides for any Heartless that would appear and to attack her. She wasn't hesitant to ask, of course.

"Who's there?" she asked with panic in her voice.

"And here I thought no one comes to Traverse Town anymore, but I couldn't be anymore wrong," a calm male voice quipped with amusement as Fusa turned her head to the sides in confusion. "I thought that all of the residents either turned into Heartless or even moved away when it was no longer needed. But the moment I saw your weapon, then I knew that you weren't a resident at all- someone that was just passing by."

"Who are you? Or, what are you, if you're not a Heartless?" she questioned with an unsure feeling.

There, a male figure jumped down from the rooftop of the wrecked café and walked over to Fusa, to which she turned her head and became surprised by his appearance. She noticed that he was a teenager with scraggly ash-blond hair and lavender eyes- no doubt different from her own hair and eyes- with a white button down shirt, dark grey pants, and white shoes with black laces. She didn't know whether or not he was friend or foe.

"Don't worry, I won't summon any of the Heartless and try to attack you," the figure spoke to Fusa as she lowered her Keyblade once she knows that he is true to his word, "I would like to help you for now. Now then, introductions. It helps to be polite and formal." There, he introduced himself to her, "My name is Joshua."

"Mine's Fusa," she responded back with an unsure nod.

"So Fusa," Joshua began as he walked around her, examining her carefully, and she watched with confusion, "What brings you to Traverse Town?"

"My master sent me here," she explained to him when he stopped and crossed his arms as he listened, "He told me that I would need to find my two companions to go on my journey with. But the looks of this place, I doubt that I would find them."

"Don't worry, they're here; it's going to require some looking around, though," he responded to her as she curled her ahoge with her left index finger and she listened to him as he began to explain to her on the town's history, "You see, Traverse Town was created to be nothing more than a haven for those that lost their homes in the Realm of Light by the Heartless Invasion last year. Once the Invasion subdued and the worlds of the Realm of Light were restored, everyone left this place and it became a ghost town. However, the Heartless returned and eventually, Traverse Town is on its way to become a Sleeping World."

"Realm of Light? What is that?" Fusa inquired with a tilt of her head after her finger let go of her ahoge.

Joshua, however, said nothing and instead chuckled at her question, leaving his answer ambiguous before stating to her, "Well, I prefer not to give everything away." He then suggested to her with an idea, "Why not look around the First District for a while? You might find something worth of value here. I could say that it would be important."

Fusa nodded and turned her head and began walking over to the wrecked café to look around. There, she noticed that there was nothing but scattered and broken chairs and tables and broken lamps. However, a strange untouched mark caught her eye and she went down to her knee to examine it carefully. It was a blue marking with three hearts connected to one another. Fusa scanned it carefully before using her right index finger to touch it to see if it was safe or not, but when she touched it, nothing happened. It was as if it was used before. So she tried again, this time, brushing her fingertip on one drawn heart to another, connecting all three. Although she felt a little strange when she did it, there seemed to be little change within her body, on her appearance, or even her personality.

So she stood up before turning around to find a small treasure chest across from her, so she walked over to see what it was. When she got to the treasure chest, she bent down on one knee again and inserted the Keyblade into the Keyhole, unlocking it, and removing it to open the chest. There, she found that there was another Potion, but it didn't matter; Fusa had removed her backpack off of her back and opened it to put the Potion in the pack so she could put it back on her back again. Once she had her pack back on, she picked up her Keyblade and walked back to Joshua, who was waiting for her.

"I take it that you found the Trinity Mark," he stated to her without a bat of his eyelash, to which Fusa stopped when she got to him and took a step back.

"How did you know what I was looking at?" she asked him with surprise.

"Well, you could say that I'm a little omnipresent," he answered to her calmly. "But it wasn't what you were looking at- it's what you  _did_  when you were looking at it."

Joshua turned and looked up at one of the lower rooftops of one of the buildings and noticed a large treasure chest by the corner. He turned to Fusa and gestured to her to come over to where he was, to which she walked over to him with a raised eyebrow.

"There's a treasure chest up on that rooftop up there," he explained to her as he pointed to where the chest was, "I can't really get it myself, since that I don't have a large key like you do."

"But how can I reach it?" Fusa asked as she tried to figure out the exact height of the rooftop and how high she could jump. "I can't jump that high to there. I'm not that good of a jumper."

"There is a way," he explained to her with an idea in mind. She looked at him as if he was either insane, brilliant, or even both. "There's this technique that you might not have heard of. It's called 'Flowmotion'. What that does it that it allows you to traverse your surroundings with great ease when you interact with certain environmental elements. You can jump off walls, grind rails, leap great heights, and attack enemies with it. It's kind of like Parkour where I'm from."

Fusa was tad confused when she heard him mention "Parkour", but nonetheless got the idea about this "Flowmotion" action.

"How about you try it out a bit?" he asked her as she looked at him with curiosity and he explained to her more, "The Trinity Mark that you touched actually gave you a bit of that Flowmotion juice inside of you, so that you would do it. Although it works better in the Sleeping Worlds, there is a chance for Flowmotion to work here. Try going up the rooftop to reach that chest up there and go on from there."

Fusa looked at her Keyblade, to which it disappeared out of her hand again, and she looked at her hands before looking at the rooftop with a nervous face. There was no way that she would learn this "Flowmotion" in quick ease. Still, she knew that she would have to learn this for her journey. She just didn't know what Yen Sid would think if he saw her now.

She took some steps back away until she got to one of the broken streetlamps and hesitated with an uneasy feeling. However, she mustered up her courage to run and quickly ran at a fast speed before making a leap at the rooftop, where her hands tightly gripped the metal pipe of the roof. Fusa held on tight on the pipe as her legs dangled and swung helplessly, her courage slipping away. Her fingers were turning red as she struggled to still hold on tightly. Joshua watched her struggle without going over to help her, for he was waiting to see what she could do with the Flowmotion outside of the Sleeping Worlds.

Before she could slip, however, Fusa stopped and realized that there was still a chance for her to get on. There, she swung her body a few times before making a backward flip up onto the rooftop, hitting her back when she landed. Although it was painful, she was at least relieved that she made it onto the rooftop before sitting up to stand on her feet, where she stretched her back from any knots that she got when she flipped backwards and upwards. She finds the large treasure chest by the corner and summoned her Keyblade in her right hand to open it. There, she inserted the Keyblade into the Keyhole of the chest to unlock it before removing it and opened the chest.

In the chest, there was a poorly preserved map of Traverse Town, showing the First District and its fellow second, third, and fourth Districts, along with a crossed out Fifth District in red. Fusa thought it was peculiar, considering that no one could have left behind a map of the town, especially when it was left to rot by the Heartless. However, she picked the map up and placed it in her backpack, still confused about the Fifth District, before placing her hands on the chest lid and closing it with her Keyblade disappearing in a flash of light again. As she turned to get down, Fusa stopped upon seeing that Joshua was gone, and only Shadow Heartless in clumps of five, along with two larger Heartless with large hands, tiny heads, and the Heartless symbol on their chests, were by the broken streetlamps.

"Joshua! Joshua!" she called with worry, fearing that the Heartless have already claimed him as their victim.

However, the Shadows heard her call and turned to see her on the rooftop and scurried to go after her. Knowing that she has to fight them off herself, Fusa took a few steps back before quickly running and jumped off of the rooftop, the palms of her hands touching the ground and she rolled to her feet swiftly standing up straight to face the Shadow Heartless. They were using each other to climb on top of each other to try and reach the rooftop themselves in a similar way ants do. But they saw that their prey was behind them, they turned and disassembled their makeshift ladder and scurried towards her. Fusa then summoned her Keyblade again into her hands and started to fight them. She used Vertical Slash at a few, Horizontal Slash at a few more, and taking claw marks to her arms again. However, she was using her guard to defend herself and the sharp tips of her teeth to stab the Shadow Heartless so that they would dissolve into the Darkness when they were defeated.

Then there was the matter of the two Large Body Heartless. She knew that there would be no time for her to use the Potions now, so she rushed over to where the Large Body Heartless were at and attempted to try and strike at them. However, when she arrived to them, one of the Large Bodies took notice and flung its large stomach at Fusa, where she was thrown back fast and onto the ground. Upon impact, her nose hit the cobblestone ground hard and began to bleed with a few bruises around her body. Fusa felt the blood from her nose when she used her two fingers to touch the blood itself and a little dizzy, but saw the Large Body Heartless charging at her with hands open.

However, she quickly ran past them and stopped behind them, a force connecting her to one of them. She turned around, which the connected Large Body did the same, and looked at her Keyblade in her hand, before having an idea when she saw a nearby barrel. There, she began to move swiftly, which the Large Body did at the exact time, and she jumped and began to slash the barrel horizontally and vertically. As she did this, the Large Body Heartless began to attack its fellow Large Body, being a puppet without even knowing what was going on. As she used her Keyblade on the barrel, the Large Body that was being controlled by her continued to attack its fellow Large Body until one last punch finished the Large Body, to which it dissolved into Darkness. It was then the mental strings of the Large Body from Fusa were snapped, to which it was in disarray and confusion about what happened to its fellow companion.

Fusa had broken the barrel at the exact time that the Large Body dissolved into the void and found that there was only Munny and a few Health Orbs or Heart Orbs, in the broken wood. Still, she collected the Munny as well and cleaned up the broken wood. She turned and faced the remaining Large Body Heartless that was charging at her. Fusa began to run to avoid it, but the Large Body grabbed a hold of her braid, yanking her and thrashing her to the ground and to the walls of the nearby buildings, bruising and wounding her. However, she grabbed her braid and used her Keyblade to slash off the Large Body's hand with the sharp teeth of her Keyblade.

She found that trying to attack the Heartless by the front would be dangerous, so she ran fast, her feet hitting the wall, slashing the Large Body vertically in the back, injuring it. It fell forward, hitting its bloated stomach. A few Health Orbs fell out when it collapsed, to which Fusa had to quickly absorb into her body before preparing to attack again. When the Large Body rolled over its back to get up again, it charged at her again and she used Guard to wear it down before slashing it in the back again until it was finally down and dissolved into darkness, much to her relief.

Once she defeated the first batch of Heartless, she picked up the fallen Munny and absorbed the multiple Health and Heart Orbs that was left behind when they dissolved. She also found a couple of shards on the ground, both purple as well, similar to the one she found at the Mysterious Tower. Upon absorbing the Health Orbs, the minor claw marks and bruises on her arms faded little by little while the major and bloody claw marks and wounds were healed slightly, but not completely. She was breathing hard a bit from fighting off the Shadows and sat down on the stone surrounding the first streetlamp to take out one of the Potions in her backpack. She was curious as to what the Potion would take like, but upon opening the lid, a foul stench hit her, which caused her nose to shrivel and her shoulders to go up in disgust. It had a stench of bad milk with rotten berries despite its smooth liquid and soft blue color. Fusa knew that maybe all Potions would only smell like this, and expected that the taste would be even worse.

However, as she plugged her bloody nose and began to drink the Potion, a soft blue-green glow formed around the claw marks on her arms and the marks, wounds, and bruises began to completely fade. Her nose stopped bleeding and her head no longer felt dizzy. Fusa noticed that her Health had been boosted with great improvement. She never felt out of breath or worn out; instead she felt better and good as new. With the Potion now empty, Fusa held the jar in her left hand and searched for a way to discard it, only to find that there were no trash bins around in the area. So she was left to put the lid on the jar and put it back into her backpack before she stood up and began to run off out of the First District.

Unbeknownst to Fusa, however, Joshua was not attacked by the Heartless, however- in fact, he was on one of the other rooftops of the First District. He was watching her fight off the Shadow and Large Body Heartless in total silence and saw that there was something about her that was completely different. He saw that, although she was hesitant to try new things, she was indeed curious, but an unnatural side of her was radiating. He had a feeling that she was different, but there was something that he couldn't put his finger on.

"If there's something about you that seems out of place, Fusa, it's not just how you fight…" he mumbled to himself before he moved to follow her into the next District, where it was more disoriented than the first.

* * *

Inside of a red hotel room in the Second District, Max and Gremlin Gus waited if the Keyblade wielder was to show up. They already ran into Heartless a while ago, but they were able to find a safe place as to avoid the Heartless from getting to them. That, and Max had to defend himself and Gus with his own favorite skateboard shield, which he named it "Hawk Wheels". Although Max was sitting on the hotel room bed with his skateboard shield resting on the nearby wall, Gus float-paced back and forth, rereading the letter sent by Yen Sid on the matter of the Keyblade wielder.

"Now what makes you think that Yen Sid could be trusted?" Gus inquired as he stopped and looked at Max as the Knight sat up on the bed.

"He sent us the letter before the Heartless decided to attack at the Tower, and that the King used to be his apprentice in the past," the Knight responded to Gus without a doubt about on what he saying is true, "Dad told me that Yen Sid used to wield the Keyblade, which is why he decided to teach this new Keyblade wielder. He mentioned in the letter that the wielder would be here by the time that the Tower would be ambushed by the Heartless."

"I know that- we don't know if it was truly Yen Sid that wrote the letter or merely someone pretending to be the sorcerer," Gus stated with a possible explanation. "He wouldn't have known that the Heartless attacked before he wrote the letter."

"Maybe he's an all-seeing sorcerer or something," Max responded again, crossing his arms with discontent about what Gus was telling him. "And he did that as a warning to us that he was going to send the Keyblade wielder here."

As they talked, however, a loud clang shook them from outside and they fell into a deep silence. They didn't know what made that sound, but it didn't sound good at all. Thinking that the sound would possible be from the Keyblade Wielder or maybe even a Heartless made out of metal, Max got off the bed side, grabbed his skateboard shield, and ran out of the hotel room, Gus following suit. The Gremlin shook his head with irritation, knowing that the Knight could have stayed in the safety of the red hotel room until the wielder would find them instead.

* * *

In the Second District, Fusa ran fast with Shadows and Soldiers appearing from the sides of her path, from inside the window shops and breaking out to the rooftops of the nearby buildings. She knew that without a guide to tell her about what this "Realm of Light" was or even why there are realms, she would be completely lost. However, as she ran, a loud clang and violent shaking stopped her from running, nearly toppling her over. Thankfully, she kept her balance and she remained on her feet. There, she looked around to see where the rumble was coming from, but saw nothing that caused it.

As she looked around, however, a brightly colored cat-like creature with a music note for a tail pounced on a Shadow and tackled it as if the Heartless was a mouse. Fusa noticed it and saw that the cat-like creature wasn't a Heartless, as it was too brightly colored to be threatening, let alone have the Heartless symbol. But she wasn't entirely too sure as to whether or not it was friendly or not. So she started walking again, only at a fast pace than before, unaware the cat-like creature was watching her. It was not the only one- another cat-like creature (only this one looked like a mixture of a cat and a dog with a plump body, cyan coloring with yellow "X"-shaped eyes, black paws, three yellow spots on each side, and a light magenta horn on its forehead) took notice of her and began to follow her on its small paws with its stretched stubbed tail wagging to the sides.

She ascended up the deteriorating stairs by the Gizmo Shop, before noticing a couple of treasure chests on the roof and running fast towards them before making a leap at them, only grabbing onto the edge of the roof. Her heart raced with panic, knowing that she can't swing to get up there. So she squeezed her eyes shut as her fingers began to slip from their grip, no matter how tight they were. A faint pink glow surrounded her body as she was close to slipping off of the edge of the roof, but as her distress became more aware, the pink glow became larger until it was brighter than before. The cat-like creature that followed her took notice and bounced to the ground, where it began to bounce higher, hitting her feet to the sides, causing them to swing in a similar fashion as a pendulum.

Fusa felt her legs swinging and swung them to on the rooftop, where she let go and landed inward of the roof and her braid hanging and swinging slightly over the edge. The pink glow faded once she calmed down and sat up, her braid being pulled up from the edge of the rooftop.

However, she realized that something was hitting her feet that caused her legs to swing when she was hanging on. There, she turned and looked down to see the plump cat-like creature wagging its tail and with its light red tongue sticking out. She was confused as to why it was looking at her, but when she turned her head away to see the treasure chests behind her and back to the ground, it was gone. So she shrugged her shoulders without giving a thought about the creature before standing up on her feet.

Once she got to her feet, Fusa walked over to the first treasure chest by the wall, summoning her Keyblade in her hand, and inserted the teeth into the keyhole, unlocking it and opened the lid once she placed her Keyblade down. In the first chest was a small blue tinted jar with shield-shaped cookies. She read the label on the jar, where it said " _Shield Cookies_ ", much to her curiosity. By the looks and the texture of the cookies, she figured to herself as she placed the jar into her backpack, they didn't seem to be for her at all.

She turned her head to the next treasure chest and opened it as well. This time, though, she found a curious orb in the chest. It was magenta colored and it had an outline of a heart, something that Fusa has never seen before. It wasn't absorbable or edible- it was actually a container for the Heart Orbs inside of it. Nonetheless, she knew that it was actually useful so that, in case her Heart powers were depleted.

As she put her backpack on again, however, she heard the loud clang and felt the rumble again. This time, the clang was louder and the rumble was closer than what she felt before, to the point where she was toppled over to her knees. Once the rumble ceased, Fusa got up and brushed the dirt off of her capri pants before looking up to where the source was coming from. The clock tower over the Gizmo Shop seemed to be unusual, even in a town that was falling apart. It looked magenta-colored, grey even. The glass was broken, yet some of the numbers and the rusty hands remained, something that Fusa found so disconcerting.

As she thought to herself as to why it seemed like this, Fusa heard the sounds of stomping feet that seemed to be coming from the Gizmo Shop and looked down by the roof edges with furrowed eyebrows in confusion. It didn't sound good and it seemed to be wanting to get out, but with no chance of escaping from its prison. So she summoned her Keyblade in her hands and waited for any enemies to come along to strike at her.

That's when the clock tower bell rang loudly thrice and Fusa ran to jump off and onto the stairs, but the stairs crumbled beneath her feet, causing her to fall. Before she hit the ground, thankfully, the teeth of her Keyblade got caught in a pole, swinging her around twice before letting loose and causing her to fall back onto her seat. She was able to stand back up onto her feet, however, and turned to see what was going on. As she watched, however, two figures came out of the nearby hotel and rushed to the Keyblade wielder quickly. Although Fusa seemed confused by what was coming her way, she knew that they were not enemies if they wanted to help her out.

When Max and Gremlin Gus took notice of the platinum blonde girl with an odd Keyblade in her hands, they were unsure if she was the one Keyblade wielder that their King and Yen Sid had instructed them to accompany. Though Gus was the most unsure about the Keyblade in her hands being real, Max knew that the young girl wasn't a Heartless.

A pair of dislocated hammer-like black feet on short magenta legs broke through the decaying Gizmo Shop rooftop tiles and landed, nearly stomping on Fusa had the Knight didn't push her out of the way of its path. Following the Hammerlegs came a pair of magenta Gauntlets with wide wrists and three silver segmented fingers, crawling and leaving claw marks on the ground. Once the Gauntlets settled and the Hammerlegs stopped stomping for a while, a vaguely magenta hourglass-shaped Armored Torso with a light gray diamond pattern around its waist, the same symbol for the Heartless and dark pink additives by its spherical spiked helmet head. She feared that this was the Heartless leader of the world and that it was controlling the Heartless of this world.

"Do not worry, lass," Gremlin Gus spoke to Fusa as he put his fists up for a good fight and Max held his skateboard shield up in defense, to which she turned her head to him. "We shall deal with this Heartless like soldiers in the line of duty."

Though she was confused as to what the little flying creature meant by this, Fusa knew that he was right and prepared herself with her Keyblade for a battle against the Red Armor.


	11. Chapter 10- Traverse Town: Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fusa, now accompanied by the Knight Max Goof and the Gummi Pilot Gremlin Gus, undergoes her first fight with a Heartless in Traverse Town. However, she finds that her powers have some intriguing results when Joshua returns...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for not only "Dream Drop Distance", but also for "The World Ends With You". This means that be careful if you have yet to experience either game.
> 
> Red Armor= Originally an enemy from the Olympian Coliseum games in "Kingdom Hearts", but was remained unnamed until "Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix". It has the same attacks and moves as Guard Armor does in the series, but has a different color scheme than the original does.
> 
> Also, we also have the first time that Fusa (the OC of the story) gets to try out her new powers.

Fusa’s heart and mind raced as the Red Armor’s spherical helmet head flipped backwards over the hollow neck, its silver claws clanking together and its Hammerlegs tapping on the ground at a time with anticipation. It had taken notice of her Keyblade and thought of it as an obstacle for power over the Heartless in this decaying corpse of a world. Fusa, on the other hand, knew that if she and her two new companions were defeated, then the journey would be over before it even began. So she knew that there have to be no mistakes in the battle. Max and Gremlin Gus were also prepared to fight, though the Gremlin pilot knew that his fists would mean little in fighting a rather large metal Heartless like the Red Armor.

As this was going on, however, Joshua was keeping watch on one of the rooftops with curiosity, finding it peculiar for a Keyblade novice like Fusa would fight something large like the Heartless in front of her. It peaked his curiosity and he watched carefully as the fighting would go on. Still, he figured that it would be worth the watch. During this time, the cat-like creature hobbled over to where the scene was going on and watched with curiosity, sitting down and tilting its head to the side. No doubt that it didn’t know of what was going on.

After a few moments, the Red Armor began to charge after the small group, though Fusa was able to rush past the stomping Hammerlegs, Max and Gus following suit. She knew that it would try and kill them if there was one little mistake in the fight. Before she could try to get near the Armor, the Heartless’s gauntlets then began to spin around to attempt to hit her and her new party. Although she barely missed the claws, the Red Armor began to jump up and down, creating shockwaves at each stomp. One of the shockwaves hit her and pushed her back to the ground, forcing her to stand up quickly for her to fight back at the Heartless.

She scanned the appearance of the Red Armor before waiting for a few moments for the Heartless to return, waiting for a chance to try and strike at it again. Hopefully, she would have success. When the Red Armor began to make its way over, Fusa quickly dodged some of its attacks while other attacks were met with Guard. However, she also watched as the young Knight was using his Skateboard Shield to toss it over to the Armor similarly to a boomerang, especially when it was brought back to him. She found that he was throwing it at one of the Hammerlegs, trying to knock them down to hopefully topple the Heartless over. Then she turned her head to her Keyblade, having an idea popped into her head like a light bulb, before looking ahead and rushing over to where the Knight was with an idea.

“I have an idea,” she spoke to Max as he turned to her and they quickly avoided another shockwave from the Armor’s stomping Hammerlegs.

“What’s the idea?” he asked her as the Armor charged at them and they quickly dodged it again.

“Throw that weapon of yours at one of the legs,” Fusa answered, hoping that that her idea would work. Max, however, paused and looked at her with confusion, “Make it come towards us. Then we can make a dash for it. Or something.”

“For a Keyblade wielder, you’re pretty crazy,” he mumbled to her with a shake of his head before turning his head forward to the Heartless, “But I hope your idea works.”

He then began to quickly throw his Skateboard Shield at one of the Hammerlegs, but Fusa used her Keyblade to hit it harder to create more damage on the leg, to which it hit the Hammerleg hard. She found that it worked and rushed over to it to find that it was twitching in paralyzed motion. There, she then prepared her Keyblade and began to slash at the metal repeatedly, both vertically and horizontally, having her arms being worn down the more she swung her Keyblade. When the teeth cut through the metal after multiple times, however, the twitching finally stopping and Orbs and Munny dropped out of the Hammerleg.

Fusa began to collect some of the Health and Heart Orbs, allowing her arms to become better before hearing the Red Armor’s other Hammerleg stomping behind her, to which she snapped her head around and began to dodge its Spinning Gauntlets, leaning back low with her knees bent before snapping back up. There, she finds that the Knight was doing it again and that he was provoking it to get to away from her. She knew that everyone’s lives were upon her shoulders in fighting the metal beast.

As the Red Armor stomped its’ only foot towards Max, Fusa made a quick dash towards it and, skidding over next to the young Knight, prepared herself for another bout with the metal beast.

“I thought I was going to protect you from the Heartless,” Max stated to her as she held her Keyblade in offense.

“We’ll protect each other,” she answered to him, her light pink eyes remaining on the metal Heartless, though the Knight was surprised by her answer, “I’ve dealt, and will deal, with worse before. I just don’t show it.”

Max was hesitant to answer, but he found that she was right and went into defense mode at the Red Armor. When the Heartless stomped over to them with its only foot, Fusa twirled her Keyblade a bit before making a charge towards it to attack. Before she could attack it, however, the Red Armor stopped and spun its claws around its torso, knocking her off her course and causing her to fall to the ground. Max was about to rush over, but he was stopped by the Heartless and that she was able to stand up to her feet, albeit with a slight stagger and a couple of bruises on her arms from whence she landed. Nonetheless, she prepared herself to attack again.

There, she rushed back over to the Red Armor and brandished her Keyblade at the Heartless to lure it away from Max so that she would deal with fighting it herself. There, the metal creature began to hop over to her, creating shockwaves with each stomp it created. This time, Fusa had to time herself with jumping when it was hopping over to her before making her move towards it.

Once again, Max threw his Skateboard Shield towards the remaining Hammerleg and Fusa used her Keyblade to hit it harder so that the leg would be paralyzed in a twitch. There, the Hammerleg stopped dead in its tracks and Fusa began to use Vertical Slash and Horizontal Slash again on the leg, creating more slashes until Heart & Health Orbs and Munny spilled out of the leg. She had to collect some of the Health Orbs and Munny, along with all of the Heart Orbs, as Max collected the rest of the Health Orbs and Munny from the ground. They both notice, however, that the Red Armor was still floating as if it never needed its legs and prepared for another attack.

There, the Red Armor began to tilt its body down and spin its clawed Gauntlets around its Torso again, striking at the ground and causing broken ground pieces to fly at the Keyblade wielder and the Knight for it to strike against the two opponents. This time, Fusa made a dash to avoid getting struck as Max used his Skateboard Shield to protect himself against the broken ground pieces. When she stopped, the same light pink glow returned to her body and she saw a broken Heart outline over where the Heartless emblem was at on the creature. Fusa looked with surprise before realizing on what she would do before recoiling for an attack on the Heartless.

She knew to Break—there, she charged against the Red Armor and made a Thrust of her Keyblade at where the Heart outline was at. In her head, it made a shatter sound when she made the hard Thrust into the Armor’s center, causing it to shake and stop. Fusa watched briefly with shock, surprised that this was what her Heart powers can do through the Keyblade, but removed her Keyblade from the center of the Heartless’s torso and landed on the ground, landing on her feet and getting to one knee. She watched as the Red Armor struggled to recover from the strike, twitching and trying not to fall to the ground, not wanting to give up. Its’ Gauntlets fell to the ground when it couldn’t hoist them up much longer yet it remained on its sides.

Fusa quickly realized that it was her chance now to strike at the Heartless, but found that she would have to improvise on the finishing strike. There, she spotted a nearby lamppost and quickly rushed over to it, gaining momentum before making a spin by the teeth of her Keyblade and letting go, making a Rotating Vertical Slash on the Heartless to finish it off. Once she made that finishing blow to the Red Armor, Fusa landed on the ground and rolled a bit, gaining a few bruises here and there.

It was enough for the Red Armor to take its final breath and finally collapse to the ground, its helmet rolling away from the lifeless Torso. There, the slashed Hammerlegs, the fallen Gauntlets, and the lifeless Armored Torso began to slowly fade back into Darkness. From whence the parts were fading away, a large Heart began to float out of the slain Heartless and vanished into thin air.

Fusa made a sigh of relief before collecting any remaining Heart Orbs before getting to her knees and removing her backpack from her back. She noticed that Max had some dust and bruises on him, though Gus was slightly injured himself There, she opened her backpack and took out another Potion for her to use. She sighed, knowing that she couldn’t stand the scent of the Potion, but knew that she would need to heal after what has happened to her from the fight. So she covered her nose and drank the Potion down from the jar, ignoring the smell and the taste. This healed up her bruises and restored her strength quite nicely, though she was expecting it to happen again.

After Fusa was able to use the Potion to heal herself while Gremlin Gus and Max were able to heal themselves with different types of medicine, she found that they were still alive and able to walk still. She looked to them and seemed so... intrigued by how they used their medicine. She even wondered if their own medicine tasted better than the Potions.

"So, um..." she was about to say as they looked to her and walked over, "You're the 'companions' that Yen Sid mentioned, yeah?"

"And you're the Keyblade wielder, correct?" Gus inquired as he pointed to her Keyblade in her hand.

Fusa looked down at the giant key in her hand before nodding in response.

"Ah, yes, very well," the Gremlin spoke before explaining to her, "My name is Gus, Gremlin Gus, at your service, ma'am." He gave a ready stance with a salute to her, to which Fusa was able to copy with a smile. "This young chap you see here is Max Goof, a Knight if you will."

"Make that 'Royal Knight' if you will," Max responded with a confident nod.

"My name's Fusa," Fusa introduced herself with a soft smile to them. However, she was a little surprised by what Max looked like, same with Gus. She couldn't make out whether or not both of they were alien or even creatures. But, she knew that it never mattered anyway and decided to go with it, since they were friendly.

"So Yen Sid sent you here, yes?" Gus inquired to her, though she remained silent for a moment.

She could only nod as her only answer, not wanting to tell them on what has happened, or what might have happened to her master.

"We were sent by the King himself a la letter to this town to meet up with the Keyblade wielder—you, to be exact," Gus explained to her as she listened to him.

Fusa thought about what he said and wanted to ask on who the king was, but then remembered the large mouse in the Organization XIII cloak meeting with Yen Sid. She remembered how Yen Sid called the large mouse as "Your Majesty" whenever speaking with him.

"Was the King a small person with large mouse ears?" she asked, making a gesture of round "ears" on the top of her head. Both of them were surprised when she said this.

"Why, yes!" Gus exclaimed in surprise, though Max said nothing; he was in awe as well.

But before they could ask on how she knew about that, they heard a crumble and tensed up.

"What’s that sound?" Fusa asked, holding her Keyblade up in self-defense.

Before they could leave, however, they spotted a pair of colorful dinosaur-like creatures walking around the District, taking a look at the three before walking away. Fusa tilted her head, leaving her braid hanging a bit, with a raised eyebrow in confusion. She had never seen such creatures like those before, but figured that they were new to her anyway.

"Looks like the Heartless aren't the only ones here," Max was the first to speak as Gus and Fusa looked at him.

"The young lad is right, I suggest that we would leave immediately before the Heartless takes over," Gus added, pointing his thumb back to where the First District would be at.

Before they can make their way over, Fusa heard a strange sound and stopped, turning her head to see if there was a source of the sound itself. Max and Gus stopped and looked over to her as if something was wrong. But, as she might have expected, Fusa made a shrug of her shoulders and began to walk forward. When she did this, however, the strange plump colorful cat-like creature pounced forward and toppled her backwards. She grunted when she hit the ground as Max and Gus prepared themselves to fight the creature; yet they saw that the creature was being friendly.

The creature was making combined kitten and puppy sounds as it licked Fusa's face affectionately, making her giggle. When it was finished, it moved to over her heart and sat down, looking at her with yellow "X"-marked eyes curiously. She lifted her head at it with a happy smile, the first time she had one since her arrival to Traverse Town. However, she moved to sit up and stand to her feet, causing the creature to roll off and land back on its feet, shaking its tail a bit.

"What is that thing, anyway?" Max asked as the creature walked over to her and sat down next to her, looking up at her with curiously.

That's when a familiar voice, one that Fusa knows a little well enough, piped up and spoke to them. She perked up when she heard the familiar voice, though she was more than surprised to hear it once more.

"That happens to be a 'Dream Eater'," Joshua spoke as he walked over to the group as Fusa's light pink eyes lit up upon seeing him again, "They happen to be Darkness incarnate in the Realm of Sleep, made up of Sleeping Worlds."

"Who are you?" Max asked in surprise when Joshua made his appearance once again.

"Consider me... a friend," the mysterious teenager responded with a covert smile, "The Keyblade wielder has met me before. Is that right, Fusa?" When he spoke this, Max and Gus turned their heads to Fusa, who blushed a bit. She had to nod to attest to Joshua's testimony. "On the subject of Dream Eaters," Joshua spoke again, returning to the topic, "They can be Spirits, which eat bad dreams and have bright colors, or Nightmares, which eat good dreams and have darker colors. And they have different appearances mostly based on animals with some exceptions."

"Animals?" Fusa inquired curiously.

"The Dream Eater you see here is a Spirit Meow Wow," Joshua explained again, referring to the creature next to her as she looked down at the creature. "I take it that it seems to like you a lot. It's a rare occurrence, but it might be more common than you think it really is."

"Does it really like me?" Fusa wondered curiously as she looked at the Dream Eater and it looked at her with its tongue sticking out in a very cute and goofy way.

"If it didn't like you, then it wouldn't have licked your face like any other puppy would have," he added to her, to which she thought to herself that he would have a point.

"Come, come, young lad," Gus began to ask in order to get back on track and went to a new topic, "What brings you here to Traverse Town, anyway? Are you looking for your companions, too?"

Joshua didn't answer. Instead, he had his mind on what had happened in the past, when the Heartless attacked his home. He then answered, "Actually, I was looking for a new, if not temporary for a while, place for my companions."

"What do you mean by that?" Max inquired in confusion.

"You see, I'm not from around here, nor are my friends," Joshua began to explain to them calmly, "We're actually from this place called Shibuya, where there was this game that my friends were participating in. It's called the Reapers' Game."

"That doesn't sound like a good game to me," Fusa spoke quietly as Joshua continued to speak.

"It is played for three weeks with the players, whom have died before the game began, either given the chance to live again or continue being dead," he continued to explain. "During the game, however, the Darkness came and destroyed everything. I was able to save what was left of them, but I had to look for a place for them to dwell in during their recovery. That's when this place intrigued me the most. Using a young girl named Rhyme and her dreams, I used them to make a portal to arrive here. Even then, it wasn't enough for me to properly allow my friends to live here for now. That's when I saw Fusa's powers during her fight with the Heartless."

"M-my powers?" Fusa asked, pointing to her in confusion, not sure if Joshua was being delusional.

"Certainly," Joshua answered with a nod. "I've seen the way that you've fought the Large Body Heartless, using their power as your own. As for the Red Armor, using your powers again to stop it in its tracks before it could attack again-- that type of power is rare, even within the Reapers."

Fusa thought about it for a moment. True, she had never met a "Reaper" before, but she figured that the "Reapers" that Joshua mentioned wouldn't have friendly powers either.

"The moment I came here, I thought that it was completely empty until I heard your companions and then a train at the desolate station," Joshua explained to her again, "I've seen your outfit and thought that it would be more or less what a person from Shibuya would wear. Then I noticed your hair and eyes and realized that there was more about you than I expected. So now I have a question for you."

"Anything to help out," Fusa answered with a nod to him, though Max and Gus seemed to be concerned by her answer. Joshua, on the other hand, seemed pleased with her answer.

With that said, four bubbles began to appear on both of his sides, glowing in a bright light, making Fusa, Max and Gus surprised by what they saw. In each one, however, were mostly teens and a child with unique and even odd outfits and colored hair. One teen had orange themed red hair, headphones, and indigo-colored, black, and white clothing; another teen had long pointed maroon hair, an odd attire, and a plush black cat in her arms; the third appeared to be more of a brutish appearance with a hat and blond hair; and the final was a child with a boyish appearance, also with blonde hair as well like the brutish teen.

"These are the friends that I mentioned: Neku Sakuraba, Shiki Misaki, Beat as he's called, and Beat's little sister Rhyme," Joshua explained to her as she made a couple steps forward to the glowing bubbles that contains the pieces, "They were the only ones I could save with Rhyme's dreams; now I need to make them solid once more. Do you think you can connect them with a couple of Dream Eaters so that they can take root in Traverse Town?"

"I may not repair their memories, but I will do my best to give them a second chance," Fusa answered to him honestly, moving to Neku and Shiki's bubbles first.

There, Fusa closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again, a subtle light pink glow surrounding her body as she saw a pair of broken hearts outlines on both Neku and Shiki as well as a shattered line meant to connect them to each other. She then brought her hands up a bit and began to reconstruct the line between their hearts, helping it become solid once more. She also began to mend their hearts, carefully erasing the broken outlines of their hearts. Thankfully, the results remained once the outlines faded a bit. Now she began to concentrate on locating the right Dream Eater for the two of them to have.

She used her eyes to wander a bit before finding the cat-like Dream Eater Spirit with a music note for a tail walking around. There, she began to use her power to call it over with its Heart, to which it turned its head to her and quickly walked over to her obediently. Joshua took notice of this and became impressed. Max and Gus, on the other hand, were amazed by what she did.

"A Necho Cat, not bad," he spoke, Fusa's attention remaining on the Dream Eater as the Meow Wow watched curiously. "I take it that you saw Neku's headphones, right?"

"Actually... it was his name that caught my attention," Fusa responded with an uneasy chuckle as she brought her attention back to the sleeping Neku inside of the bubble. Joshua chuckled, figuring that it was good enough for him.

Fusa then began to carefully construct a line connecting the sleeping teen with the Necho Cat, making sure not to mess up on constructing the connection on their hearts. Once she completed on mending the hearts and constructing connections, the outlines faded and the subtle light pink glow went away. There, the Necho Cat remained before turning around to wait for Neku to come out of the bubble, allowing Fusa to give a sigh of relief of her actions before looking over to Beat and Rhyme's bubbles as the small group watched her closely.

"How intriguing..." Gus mused to himself curiously as he and Max continued to watch what she was doing.

The subtle glow soon resumed as Fusa took a look at Beat and Rhyme's Heart outlines, finding that they, too, had broken Hearts and broken down connections. Thus said, she began to carefully erase the cracks in the Hearts again before moving on to reconstruct the connections on their hearts as well. She was successful again; now she would have to find another Dream Eater to connect with Beat's heart in the meantime.

Fusa began to use her eyes to wander for a different Dream Eater and one that she needed to protect both of them. She saw the dinosaur-like Dream Eater Spirit and was ready to use her power to call it over by its Heart until she saw a colorful panda-like Dream Eater Spirit with a cape on its back and went with it instead. The Dream Eater bounced over to her and stopped when it was next to Beat's bubble, looking at Fusa.

"A Kooma Bear, very interesting," Joshua hummed a bit with intrigue at what she did, "I suppose it's because of the Dream Eater's size like Beat, right?"

"Well, it's because that the Bear's kinda like a big brother to the other Eaters," Fusa answered with a shrug before resuming with what she was doing. Once again, Joshua figured that her answer was good enough for him.

She began to construct the connection between the Kooma Bear and Beat, careful not to break concentration or even let a stray line escape her sight. As she did this, however, the Kooma Bear Spirit kept on moving, forcing her to be extra careful in constructing the connection. When she was almost done, a stray line began to flow a bit freely from the Kooma Bear Sprit's side, but she knew that nothing would be done at this point. She was finally finished with the connection, allowing the subtle light pink glow to fade and causing her to fall to her knees slightly.

"Winded?" Joshua asked as Fusa brought herself up and brushed off dirt from the bottom of her capri pants.

"It's the first time that I had to do something like that," she answered to him as she adjusted her backpack a bit. "But it's taken some power out of me."

"I see..." he responded with a thought to his head.

Nonetheless, he noticed that some of the Heartless surrounding them began to transform into dark colored Dream Eaters, which were the Nightmares. Fusa, Max, and Gus also took notice of it, though Joshua didn't seem to be bothered by it. They also noticed that some of the building were becoming

"Don't worry about the Nightmares-- it's a sign that Traverse is halfway asleep," Joshua assured to them as they looked to him with confusion, "The Spirits will take care of them. As for me, I can now finish the rest for my friends so that Rhyme's dreams can bring them back."

As he said this, the bubbles faded from sight, yet the Spirits remained by his side.

"Wait, will we see you again?" Fusa asked as Joshua was about to leave.

"Well, that depends if you get your memories back or not..." he answered to her question, though Fusa was left in confusion as to how he knew about it.

"How did you—" she was about to ask, but she was interrupted by his words.

"Let's just say... I have my ways," he answered before a pair of white angelic wings appeared from his back, surprising Fusa and her newfound companions.

Before she could ask, however, he brought up in the air and began to fly away from them as the Spirits decided to disappear to follow behind him. She watched him fly away, but chose not to follow after him, since she didn't know where he was to go. Now was not the time-- she noticed Max and Gus were making their way away from the District.

"Come, chaps, let us be away—we must board the Gummi Ship and begin our journey," the Gremlin roused poetically as Fusa began to follow behind them, but found Meow Wow following her by her side.

"Uh, Sir Gus?" she called as Max and Gus stopped and looked at her.

"Yes, Fusa?" he asked as she stopped once she got to where they were at.

"Is it alright if Meow Wow would like to join us on our journey?" she asked him as the Spirit made little squeaks as it wiggled its tail a bit. Then she added to the question, "Because I don't think it wants to stay behind."

"Well, the more the merrier I would say," Gus answered as Meow Wow looked up at her and began to whimper a bit at her.

Fusa looked down at it and picked it up to carry it, walking behind Max and Gus as she carried the Dream Eater in her arms, much to its content, which it was purring.

As they continued to walk, however, Fusa noticed that Traverse Town was becoming less what she saw before fighting the Red Armor Heartless and more of which was from its glory days. Color was returning to the buildings, tapers and banners were no longer ripped, and the ground was solid once more. It amazed her to see how much was becoming less like a decaying ghost and more like a beautiful yet empty town it used to be. She pondered if it was the power of dreams that made it possible for it to be what it used to be than what was already is.

Nonetheless, she had to let it go and continued to follow Max and Gus until they reached to the Gummi Ship. There, Fusa looked at the Gummi and became awed by its appearance. Meow Wow wiggled in her arms, causing her to let go of it, to which it pounced off of her and rushed over to her side, sniffing a bit.

"I-Is this the-the--?" Fusa inquired in awe, trying to reel in what she was seeing.

"Yep, it's the Gummi Ship," Max answered to her as the small party began to make its way forward to the Ship. One step closer and they were on their new journey, or at least what Max was thinking about, anyway.


	12. Chapter 11- Sea of Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now on the Gummi Excalibur, Fusa and her new friends take off to the Sea of Stars, where she gets to learn a little bit more about them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be one of the "breather" chapters, ones focusing on what goes on in the Gummi Ship during the travels in the Sea of Stars.
> 
> On that note, there is a reference to "Goof Troop" in this, but I won't go into too much detail about it.

"Welcome aboard the Gummi _Excalibur_ , one of the best to be built," Gremlin Gus spoke to Fusa as she carried Meow Wow in her arms and entered onto the ship, "I happen to be her pilot, of course."

"Gus is very proud of his Gummi ship," Max explained to her a bit when they got onto the ship and sat down in the cushion seats.

"No doubt about it," she responded as Meow Wow circled a bit on her lap before settling down as sleeping for a bit. Fuss giggled a bit with a smile and softly scratched its head.

Once Gus got into the controller's seat, he was able to turn the Gummi Ship on into ignition, to which the ship began shaking it a bit. Fuss was little bit nervous about it, but she was able to get into her seatbelt across her lap before putting her backpack under her seat and held Meow Wow on her lap so that it wouldn't fall off. Max was able to get into his seatbelt as well before holding his Skateboard Shield into his hands, to which he tugged on it to see if it was locked in. Gus was the only one not to strap in as he was floating above the pilot seat, but he turned his head to the passengers to see them.

"Everyone strapped in?" he asked Fuss and Max to which they nodded in confirmation. He then said to them, "Alright, chaps, we're taking off into the Sea of Stars. Remain seated please until we get to the level for me to put the Gummi into autodrive. And hold on tight, everyone, this is going to be a little bit bumpy."

With that, Gus then shifted the gear into ignition, turning on switches, and holding onto the yoke wheel with his gloved hands tightly. The passengers felt their weight being pushed to the back of their seats as the Gummi Ship began to taxi for a bit and more of Dream Eater Spirits and Nightmares began appearing in Traverse Town, making battle with each other. Fusa looked out the window of the Gummi to see this, looking down at her sleeping Meow Wow and wondering if its fellow Spirits knew that it would leave forever. Once Gus found it needed to take-off, he pulled down on the yoke and the ship began to accelerate forward, taking off into the nighttime sky. Fusa and Max watched as the Gummi left the now-sleeping world of Traverse Town, though the Keyblade wielder had a sense of uncertainty and relief when she watched the decaying town get smaller and smaller. She couldn't help but wish Joshua and his friends some good luck in their chances of staying in the town and to restore it to its former glory.

Down in Traverse Town, Joshua looked up at the sky, watching the Gummi Ship fly away from sight with lingering thoughts to himself. He couldn't help but think about how that girl seemed so strange to him. Not just her appearance, but also by her powers as well. He knew that, perhaps, there is something more to her than what he saw in her. Nonetheless, he had to let it go with a chuckle as he watched the broken streetlamps become new again and the buildings no longer littered with scratch marks. Joshua knew that the world would be asleep soon and decided to walk away with a Dream Eater bat-like Spirit flying by his shoulder.

* * *

When the Gummi flew out into space, Fusa's light pink eyes widen with awe upon seeing a lush and vast space of bright stars and cool-colored lights. She never thought of space like this before, but never thought of seeing the night sky with billions and billions of stars in the beautiful sky. Her mouth gaped open in awe as she looked out of the window beside and above her, amazed by what she saw. Now she would only hope for something like this to be forever.

Max, on the other hand, was happy to see that the Keyblade wielder was having her first look at what the small group's traveling would consist of. Gus took notice at Fusa's curiosity and smiled to himself before turning his head back and paid close attention to what would be ahead of him. He accelerated the Gummi's speed and made it go higher into the endless star-filled space, bringing the passengers' attention forward to where they would be going.

"All right, gents," Gus spoke to Max and Fusa as he brought the Gummi into autopilot so that he wouldn’t worry about getting tired, "Welcome to the Sea of Stars in the Realm of Light. You are allowed to stand up, have a couple of snacks, read some good books, converse, and see the Worlds outside the window if you want to. Remember that the Gummi operates on smiles."

With that, Max unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of his seat, heading over to the nearest window as Fusa watched him, not wanting to wake Meow Wow up by standing up anyway. However, she was feeling hungry herself and gently picked Meow Wow up with her arms, quietly settling it down on a small cat bed. The Dream Eater woke up when she began to bring it over to the small cat bed and watched her walk away to the window to look out before following after her.

Fusa took a look outside the window next to Max, where the two of them looked out to see multiple worlds surrounded by the Sea of Stars, yet they seemed so small from a distance. She watched in awe as the Gummi Ship passed by different worlds and stars, amazed by not only how much larger the universe really is, but also how greater the possibilities are for arriving to one world or the next. Soon she became a little sad that Master Yen Sid would have liked to see it, too, no matter what he thought of it. Fusa didn't know if he was safe or not-- it just worried her.

Then she felt something rub against her leg and looked down. It was Meow Wow, trying to get her attention. Fusa smiled once more and bent down to pick up her Dream Eater so that it would see the Sea of Stars as well.

"Max, Fusa, come over and see this," Gus called to the two of them as the Keyblade wielder and Max looked over at him before walking over to him. "This happens to be the information we needed when we need to go to a world here in the Sea of Stars. It might not be much, but we can get the hang of it, yes?"

There, Gus showed them the command board and the chart of where they would like to go to, much to Fusa's curiosity. She was very intrigued by what she saw and wanted to know if she would like to see more.

"This is beautiful... I wish Master Yen Sid could see this..." Fusa spoke in awe to Gus as he turned his head to her with a chuckle.

"Well, do not fear, young one," he assured to her as she gave him a smile in return, "I'm certain that he has seen the Sea of Stars before." He then asked her as she looked to him in curiosity, “So this is your first time seeing this?”

“Oh yes, Sir Gremlin Gus,” Fusa answered with a nod.

“You are permitted to just call me ‘Gus’ for short—I have yet to be knighted by the Queen yet,” he responded to her, though she was confused at what he meant by it, “I understand that you’ve been through so much in your small life but know this when I tell you that things will turn out all right for you in the end. Who knows? Maybe you'll become more than you think you are now."

"Do you really think so?" She asked him again.

"I know so," Gus responded again.

Fusa smiled to Gus before looking over to the radar to see what else is there, though her curiosity is one that is to be quenched.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the radar with her eyes focused on it.

“That happens to be what is commonly known as a ‘radar’, Fusa,” he began to explain to her as he began to adjust settings on it so that the nearest worlds would be present on the blue radar, “This is where we will find some worlds that have are currently available to visit. If we see a green sign, it means that we would first visit the world. If the sign is yellow, then it means that we can visit the world again. If the sign is red, it can mean that either the world is unavailable to be visited or we cannot return to that world again.”

“I didn’t know about that…” Fusa murmured to herself in awe, her light pink eyes focusing on the radar. Gus took notice of her awe and smiled a bit. She looked to him, to which he cleared his throat and fixed his gloves a bit.

“Would you like to grab a quick bite and read something while we’re going to our first stop on the journey?” he inquired to her as he fixed his goggles a bit. “There’s fruits and pastries if you want some.”

“Oh, umm…” Fusa tried to answer, but had no words to say to him. Gus noticed her uneasiness to answer the question, but he decided not to worry about it.

“Well, if you want to consider it, then it’s alright,” he added to her once she looked at him again in puzzlement, “After all, you and Max are the passengers of the Gummi _Excalibur_. You don’t have to ask permission to enjoy the provisions onboard.”

Fusa thought about it for a moment, thinking that Gus would be right before giving him a nod and began to walk away from the control board, going over to where the snacks were. As she was looking over to the treats to see what’s good, however, she heard light whimpering and looked down by her side, finding Meow Wow bringing its left paw and brushing it her leg before falling over, rolling over on its back for a moment, and bringing itself up a bit. She chuckled with a smile at the Spirit before kneeling down to look at it and began to pet it gently.

“Oh, I can’t be distracted from you, can I?” she inquired to it as it began to purr at her gentle touch. She chuckled before speaking to it, “Well, I don’t want to be angry at you, either. Let me see if there are any treats for you to have.”

With that, she stopped petting it and stood straight up to return her attention to the counter filled with snacks. She didn’t know what Dream Eaters would like to eat, which is what she never learned from Joshua. That’s when she had a realization: the Shield Cookies she found in a Treasure Chest back in Traverse Town.

From the realization, Fusa turned away and went back to her seat to pull her backpack from underneath the seat. She opened it and began to rummage her hand inside of it to see if she could find the jar of Shield Cookies.

“I could have sworn…” she spoke to herself as she continued to do so, catching the eye of Max, who watched her with confusion.

“What’s going on, Fusa?” he asked as he went over to her.

Fusa stopped and turned her head to him before resuming what she was doing.

“Well, I’m looking for this jar I found back at Traverse Town called ‘Shield Cookies’,” she answered with adamant determination to locate the jar within the backpack. “Maybe I threw it away or—aha!”

“Found it?” he asked again as she pulled the blue jar out of her backpack triumphantly with a smile.

“Yes, it was next to the Tent,” she spoke as she closed her backpack up and put it back under her seat with the jar on her lap momentarily.

“Y’know, I was like that when I was young,” he spoke as Meow Wow bounced over to where they were and stopped in front of Fusa as she held the jar in her hands, “My dad and I had a cat named Waffles. Don’t ask on how we got the name—I was very young at the time.”

“Whatever happened to your ‘Waffles’?” she asked hesitantly, hoping not to upset her new friend.

“Well… my dad told me that he run away before I began high school,” Max answered quietly, to which Fusa had the jar on her lap again, bringing the tips of her fingers to her mouth in concern; Max made a soft smile and responded to her, “Then he added that somewhere, someone found Waffles and was able to take care of him.” That made her relax a bit before bringing the jar back to her hands and holding it again.

Fusa brought her hand to the jar lid and began to open it, removing the lid off, revealing small shield-shaped cookies inside of the jar with checkered greens and blues. She pulled a checkered blue Cookie out and sniffed it a bit, cringing a bit from the scent, before seeing Meow Wow’s wiggling its tail excitedly a bit. With that, she had an idea. She held the Cookie in her hand for the Spirit to see, making it bounce a bit with ecstatically.

“Here you go, but please, no biting,” Fusa then spoke to Meow Wow as she handed the Cookie to it. It wobbled forward and carefully took it by the edge of the treat before pulling it away from her hand and began to chew on it with content.

She giggled when she watched the Spirit eat the Shield Cookie a bit, though she noticed that Max was watching it as well. As they watched, however, they overheard Gus’s voice, filled with excitement and authority.

“Alright chaps, we have finally found our first stop, so please finish up what you’re doing and return to your seat to buckle up,” Gus spoke as a world with a green sign blinking entered onto the radar and he then turned off autopilot so that he would take over, “There’s only one available for now, but it’s blinking a lot. Must be important.”

As he spoke this, Meow Wow finished eating up its cookie and bounced over to Fusa, who was putting the lid back on the jar to close it up, to which the Spirit began to grab her backpack from underneath her seat and pulled it out by the strap for her. She noticed this and petted its head before pulling it up and opening it, putting the jar back inside of the pack, then putting the backpack back under her seat and buckling up. Max, on the other hand, had returned to his seat and had put his seatbelt on upon sitting down.

“According to the radar, this world is called ‘Hollow Bastion’,” Gus explained as Fusa patted her knee for Meow Wow to jump onto her lap, to which it did and sat down across her lap again, allowing her to hold onto it, “As I said before, it’s the only world that’s available to us for now, but how about we land here and see on what’s going on?”

Fusa heard this and looked up at Gus with eyes filled with interest, as Max did the same as well, though he showed a bit of concern as well. She figured that since she has never been to this “Hollow Bastion” place, it would be worth checking out when they arrive.

“Sure thing, Gus,” Max voiced his answer to the Gremlin, to which Fusa turned her head to the Knight before turning her head back at the pilot, “Maybe we’ll find a guide to help us out around town, being that none of us have been here before.”

“I agree—let’s visit this Hollow Bastion place,” Fusa answered with a nod with concurrence as she held Meow Wow on her lap a bit.

“Then it’s settled, we’re going to Hollow Bastion,” Gus then spoke with a nod, making sure to punch in coordinates for when they land, “Hold tight, lads, and brace yourselves; this is going to be a little bumpy, I suggest that you are already buckled in tightly to your seat. If we don’t make it—actually, it is best not to think about that bit, shall we?”

With that, Max began to tighten his seatbelt a bit and Fusa brought one hand to her armrest to hold on tightly, her other hand holding onto Meow Wow as Gus began to grip his hands on the yoke tightly and began to make his way towards the world. Both of the passengers felt their weight being pulled to their seats as the Gummi began to make its way to the world in sight. Gus began to type in coordinates as to where to land the Gummi until finding the entrance and flying the ship towards it, much to Fusa’s nervousness.

When they first saw the world, they noticed a castle appearing until the Gummi _Excalibur_ began to make its way inside of the world, where other ships have made their claim on spots. Gus slowed down the Gummi, allowing it to cruise for a spot to find. Fusa and Max looked outside with puzzlement, wondering whether or not this world was a popular place to be. They have noticed that some of the Gummis had strange colors and even designs, but they figured that for each one they came from would mean something unbeknownst to another thing. During this, Gus spotted a nearby available spot and brought the Gummi over there to land. Once he landed and allowed the Gummi to taxi slightly to the spot, the Gremlin then turned off the ship and began to float over to the passengers with a triumphant grin under his mustache.

“Lads, welcome to Hollow Bastion,” he spoke to them as they unbuckled their seat belts and started to gather their things together, “Now let us journey up top.”


	13. Chapter 12- Hollow Bastion: Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now at Hollow Bastion, Fusa and her new company are met by a couple of characters and are introduced to their mysterious guide for the world.

In Hollow Bastion, the Marketplace was energetic with residents and shoppers by the time Fusa and her small group made their way there after travelling up from the Gummi Ship. She looked around with awe, looking at the sky filled with a beautiful dusk and construction going on as well on the castle of the world. She noticed, with a curious look, that there were towers that were being rebuilt and machinery sticking out; as the group was at a distance from the castle itself, there was no way of telling whether or not there would be anyone that would be working on it at the moment. However, she knew that she would be careful in case there would be Heartless running around to attack while she is distracted, so she continued to walk with Max as Gus floated beside them. Meow Wow followed behind her, not having any cares in the universe.

“Now then, let us find a guide or perhaps a map to show us on where to go,” Gus suggested with an idea as Fusa, Max, and Meow Wow descended down the stone stairs, “And maybe even tell us about the history of this fascinating world. Preferably a guide to tell us about the history.”

“Well, do you know about the history of Hollow Bastion, Gus?” Max asked with confusion as he had his Skateboard Shield strapped to his back.

Gus couldn’t answer the young Knight’s question, so he simply shrugged. Fusa, on the other hand, was more than curious to know about this world and tilted her head to the side slightly with her eyes narrowed at the castle. She couldn’t put it on her tongue, but somehow… she felt as if there was something strange with it. Or was it familiar? Nonetheless, she couldn’t figure it out as well. With that said, she looked to Gus and Max after bringing her head back up.

“Well, we can talk to someone here, yeah,” she suggested, to which she received nods of agreement from them both.

“It’s a start,” Max responded as he adjusted his goggles on the top of his head with the straps over his droopy ears.

They turned and began to make their way around the Marketplace, looking to see if there was someone either Max or Gus could recognize and can hopefully speak to. As they walked, however, Max spotted a large white duck holding a brown cane in one hand and a treat in another and wearing a blue jacket with a red collar and cuffs, a top hat with a red brim, and red spats; he made a smile and rushed over to the large duck. Gus and Fusa took notice of the clothed duck and quickly followed after him, turning the corner and ascending the steps up. Meow Wow wasted no time in following behind as well, bouncing up the stairs rather than wobbling up.

“Hey, Mr. Scrooge!” Max called out to the large rich duck as he stopped once he was close to where he was and Fusa stopped next to him and Gus next to her.

The large duck heard footsteps, along with Max’s voice, and turned around, sporting light blue eyes and pince-nez glasses, to see who was there. Fusa, already surprised to find that the duck was clothed and walked around like any other person in this world, was even more surprised that Max knew who he was. Then again, she figured, she was with a walking and talking dog and a Gremlin, so that wouldn’t surprise her.

“Why, if it isn’t the Captain’s wee one,” he exclaimed in a Scottish accent, to which Fusa looked to the young Knight that the duck recognized him before looking at the duck again, “The last time I saw you, you were the size of me nephew! Now you’re tall! Ah, it’s been a while, I suppose…”

“Good to see you, too, Mr. Scrooge,” Max responded with a chuckle as the duck, Scrooge, looked over to see Gus, then to Fusa. He was confused at first, seeing her as he had never seen or met her before.

“Maxie lad, who’s the young’un next to ye?” Scrooge inquired as he pointed his cane to her, much to her confusion. “I don’t recognize ‘er from anywhere else.”

That’s when she decided to introduce herself to him with arms down and her hands on the sides of her thighs in attention, “Ah, my name is Fusa, sir. I, uh, I came along with them.”

“Scrooge McDuck at yer service, a duck of business and wealth,” Scrooge responded to her, putting the golden tip down to the ground again as she relaxed her posture, before seeing Gus as well and speaking to him, “Ach, and you’re Sir Gus the Gummi pilot, am I right?”

“Gremlin Gus at your service, Sir McDuck,” Gus responded with a salute, though Fusa looked over to see him in question, “But I do appreciate the title. And it’s an honour to meet you.”

Scrooge nodded before digressing to other topics, though it was one that he was planning to talk about himself.

“You see lads, I ‘ave been working on recreating the recipe for my favorite old-time ice cream, though I haven’t gotten to it yet,” he explained to them as they listened to him carefully as he showed them the treat in his fingered wing, “This is one of my attempts; the rest gone kaput! I’ll make millions if I can get it right…” With that, he began to taste it by carefully biting a piece of the treat off, though with the taste of the treat, he turned green in the face and spat the piece out onto the stone floor. “Terrible! This one is no good, either…”

“Ah, Mr. McDuck?” Fusa began to ask him a question after remembering as to what they needed to do in this world, to which Scrooge looked at her, “Is there anyone around here that can show us around this place?”

“Mmm, can’t help you there, lass, but there is a Restoration Committee just down th’ way in the Borough that might help you out,” he answered to her, pointing his cane to down the stairs out of the Marketplace and the small group turned over to see, “Perhaps you can ask ‘em.”

“Will do, Mr. Scrooge,” Max responded to him with a nod, “Thanks a lot. And good luck with the recipe!”

With that, they began to make their way to the Borough with Meow Wow following behind them; as they left, however, Scrooge McDuck watched them with a chuckle before waddling inside of the building to try again.

 

* * *

 

 

As Fusa, Gus, and Max were making their way to the Borough, which appeared to be a residential area for those that lived in Hollow Bastion or at least staying for the night in inns, they spotted some Shadows and Soldiers appearing from the stone ground and stopped walking. The young Keyblade wielder knew that she would have to fight again and summoned her Keyblade into her right hand before assuming the position in defense; Max grabbed his Skateboard Shield from his back and held it in his hands for a fight. The Shadow and Soldier Heartless took notice and began to make their way towards them quickly, to which one of the Shadows pounced and attempted to take a slash at Fusa. She quickly used Guard just in time before making a swing at it with Horizontal Slash and a Rotating Vertical Slash, vanquishing it.

She remained on her feet as the Shadow Heartless that attacked her was destroyed, but kept an eye on the rest as she moved to collect the fallen Orbs and Munny. Max used his Skateboard Shield similarly to a boomerang again, much like in the fight with the Red Armor, to get the Soldier Heartless as well, though it knocked them out for his companion. As she was fighting some of the Soldier Heartless just as they were regaining consciousness, however, she blocked and felt her arms getting scratched again when she guarded. She then vertically and horizontally slashed them again before moving forward with a thrust of her Keyblade, thankfully vanquishing them as well.

During the fighting, there was a man in his twenties with a light shade of brown with swept bangs to the left, blue eyes, a scar that runs diagonally across from the bridge of his nose, and an outfit of black and white with red wings printed on his jacket, white fur at the cuff, and black and brown belts loosely wrapped around his hips except for a black belt that was properly around his waist; he was carrying his gunblade to in defense but stopped when he noticed the fighting going on. At first, he nearly joined in on the fighting until he noticed the small group doing their best to fend themselves off of the Heartless and decided to keep an eye on them for a moment to see what the outcome would be.

As she fought, Fusa had an idea on how to properly dodge them, to which she made a quick sliding dash when one of the Soldiers charged after her before she swung her Keyblade at its’ helmet with a Horizontal Slash, causing it to be killed and leaving behind the spoils. Just as she got out of the sliding dash, of course, she nearly slipped and caught herself when she brought the tip of her Keyblade down onto the ground.

Once the fighting was over with, Fusa sighed and began to collect the Munny and absorb the Health and Heart Orbs for her powers to boost up and for her health to be brought back up. Neither she nor Gus, Max, and Meow Wow took notice of the man that was watching it all. Max collected the rest of the spoils and left the Heart Orbs for his friend to have, healing himself with the Health Orbs.

“The only time I have seen someone fight like that is when they just had experience in wielding the Keyblade,” the man spoke in regards to the young Newborn Nobody, causing Fusa and her companions to direct their attention to him in confusion as he walked forward to them a bit, “Though I’ve always thought that only one could wield it. Which is the Chosen One, and if memory serves me well, I don’t seem to remember someone with blond hair like yours actually being the Chosen One at all. Either the role has been passed down to you or I’m missing something.”

“Ah, a resident of Hollow Bastion!” Gus exclaimed with a sigh of relief as he floated over to the man before explaining to him, “Greetings, good sir, my name is Gremlin Gus—Gummi pilot and engineer—and we just came in from Traverse Town. We’re terribly sorry if we’re disturbing the peace in any way possible, we’re just on our way around the Borough. The young man happens to be Max, the one-of-a-kind Knight of his youth.”

Fusa held the Keyblade in her right hand and walked forward to the man before adding to Gus’s statement, to which the man listened and crossed his arms suspiciously, “M-my name is Fusa, sir, and we’re not here to hurt anyone. There’s Heartless going around and—“

The man shrugged a bit and responded to her calmly to stop her for a moment, “Name’s Leon. It’s short for my real name, but once Hollow Bastion is restored completely, I’m just Leon until then.”

“Mr. Scrooge mentioned something about a ‘Restoration Committee’, Leon,” Max spoke up as Meow Wow went over to Fusa’s side, wagging its tail a bit when it looked up at the man rather curiously, “Where is it? And, can we visit them for a while?”

Leon looked down a bit in thought, thinking it through. He wasn’t sure if he would trust Fusa and her group, but he figured that with their help for a while, they can be steps closer to restore the world’s former image of what it once was before. That, and based on what he had seen from their fighting with the Heartless, they can be of good use to the Committee as well. With his mind made up, he looked them and nodded before turning away to lead them into another area of the Borough. Fusa looked at Max and Gus before turning her head forward and began to follow behind him, her companions and Spirit joining her.

There, they ascended up the stairs and began to make their way to the residential house ahead of them, but they stopped when more Soldier and Shadow Heartless began to appear for a fight. Leon prepared his gunblade for a fight, but Fusa and Max moved ahead to defend him. The young Keyblade wielder believed that if she used her Heart powers on one of the Heartless while Leon’s watching, she feared that he would think of her as an enemy. So she had to restrain herself from using the powers for now and use them as a last resort if possible.

Fusa and Max began to fight off more of the Heartless that came as a few more began to appear as well, though she made a Dodge Roll when one of them tried to pounce on her before she got back to her feet and struck at the Soldier Heartless with a Rotating Horizontal Slash to kill it. When she noticed that there were a few more Heartless that were still remaining, she knew that there wouldn’t be any choice for her to have except to use her powers. There, she made concentration on one of the Soldier Heartless and made a charge towards it and piercing her Keyblade into its corrupt heart, causing it to stop and twitch with paralysis. When Leon heard the screech from the Heartless, he stopped and turned his head to see Fusa pull her Keyblade out of the center of the Soldier before executing it with a Rotating Vertical Slash. Once she did this, she quickly collected the spoils before turning her head to the two remaining Shadow Heartless that were fighting Max.

There, she made a quick Sliding Dash towards them, stepping in to finish them off with a Thrust of her Keyblade, causing them to fade into darkness and leaving behind Orbs and Munny. When they were finished off, Fusa and Max began to pick up the spoils when Leon walked over to where they were to speak with them.

“Hey, Fusa, was it?” he spoke as Fusa looked up at him when they were finished, “That ability you did with one of the Heartless—how did you do that? I have never seen someone fight the Heartless off like what you did unless they weren’t human.”

“About that…” Fusa was about to speak with an ashamed blush spread across her face, but felt a hand pat on her shoulder and became surprised by this.

“It’s nothing to be worried about,” Leon spoke again as he lead her and her small group over to the door, “I’m used to seeing non-human abilities.”

This gave Fusa a bit of relief in hearing his words before following behind him. Max put his Skateboard Shield back behind his back and he, Gus, and Meow Wow followed behind her as well.

Leon knocked on the door three times before opening the door to let himself, the Newborn Nobody, and her group inside. There were three other persons in there: a young teenage girl a couple of years older than Fusa with short black hair, violet eyes, and an odd outfit with a large four-point Shuriken strapped to her back; a young woman in her twenties with brown hair in a red ribbon, green eyes, and a pink dress with brown boots; and a man with a stubble on his chin at the computer with short blond hair, blue eyes, a wooden pick clenched between his teeth, and a normal-ish outfit with goggles on his head. Once they were inside, Leon gestured to Fusa and her small group to wait where they are before walking over to the three persons.

The teenager turned her head to see him before tapping the man’s head quickly to get his attention. He stopped and turned around to see Leon, as the young woman took notice of him.

“Thought that you were returning later, Leon,” the man spoke as he kept the toothpick in between his teeth.

“I changed my mind, Cid, while I was out,” Leon responded as Fusa, Max, and Gus watched in curiosity, “When I found this group fighting off the Heartless.” He referred to the small group, to which he gestured to them to approach.

Fusa and her two companions made a few steps forward over to where Leon was as the other three persons looked over to see them.

“Hey, Leon, who’s the kid?” the man, apparently named Cid, asked Leon as Fusa twirled her finger in her ahoge a bit in thought, at least absentmindedly.

“Newcomers from another world, apparently,” Leon responded as the young Keyblade wielder absent-mindedly lost track of her thoughts a bit, “More specifically Traverse Town.”

“Traverse Town? I wonder how that’s doing,” the teenager spoke a bit out of curiosity, though neither of them didn’t speak again about it.

“Anyway, the kid here knows on how to wield the Keyblade—and has a power none of us knows about,” Leon continued as Fusa let go of her ahoge and perked up curiously, “She goes by the name of ‘Fusa’, or at least that’s what she told me.” She heard this and nodded in agreement to attest his words.

“Well, nice to meet you, Fusa and companions,” the teenager greeted to Fusa as she walked over to them to meet up with them, “You may call me the ‘Great Ninja Yuffie’ or just Yuffie. I’m sure you met Leon over here, then you have Cid Highwind and Aerith as well.” Then she remembered something important and hopped over to Leon and asked him, “Hey, is either Merlin or ‘Vinnie’ coming back soon?”

“I haven’t gotten word of Merlin yet,” Leon answered to her, not bothered by Yuffie’s rather hyperactive behavior or her question, “Though ‘Vinnie’ would appreciate it if you didn’t call him that around us.”

In the conversation, however, Fusa listened carefully and shifted her eyes between Leon and Yuffie, not knowing what to say to either of them. Gus floated over to her left shoulder and sat down on it, to which she looked over to him. Neither of them spoke as Max joined at Fusa’s right side and Meow Wow bounced over to her left leg.

As this went on, however, there was a knock at the door that caused them to stop and for all of them to turn their heads to the door. Leon was the only one to walk over to the door to see who it was, though Fusa watched him with curious eyes. There, he got to the wooden door and had to be careful on who was behind it.

“Who’s there?” he asked with slight suspicion.

“A friend,” a mysterious voice answered through the door in return.

Fusa heard the voice a bit and became a little curious as to who or what that was, but she watched Leon moved a bit to open the door to reveal the source of the voice. None of the Committee residents were surprised, yet Fusa and her friends were, when the door opened.

At the door outside of the hut was a tall man seemingly at Leon’s age with long black hair and crimson eyes; he wore a red bandana on his head with his fringe over it and a tattered red cloak covering his shoulders and the lower half of his face, along with a black bodysuit attire underneath with several straps and buckles on his person. This man also had pointed sabatons on his feet and a golden gauntlet on his left arm, opposite of his completely covered right arm, as well as a gun holster strapped to his right thigh. Fusa became a little tense upon seeing him enter inside, though Leon was not intimidated to see him.

“What’s the update on the guardians in the castle?” he asked the mysterious man without a hint of fear in body language.

“They’ve adjusted well to their new sanctuary and their leader has reported some more Heartless ascending the corridors,” the man answered in a dark and stoic tone, “Right now, they’re holding off on the creatures as we speak and their technician has reinstalled security online.”

“Good to hear that,” Leon responded as the mysterious man made his way to where Cid and the others were at, passing by Fusa and her group.

She watched and turned around when the man passed by them, much to her slight uneasiness and curiosity about him. However, he paused when he walked past her, almost as if he noticed something about her. Rather than turning over to her and her friends, he turned his head to Leon to speak with him instead.

“Leon… these people… I don’t recognize them from around town,” the mysterious man spoke to Leon in the same stoic tone. “Especially the young one in gray.” This little comment made Fusa confused before she looked down at her clothing, finding that he took notice by what color of the outfit she was wearing.

“They’ve arrived here from Traverse Town, or at least what they’ve told me,” Leon answered to him with crossed arms, but then noticed that the Dream Eater was wobbling on over to the mysterious man and began to wave its paw at him to get his attention with light kitten/puppy squeaks and whimpers. “Apparently, they’re in need of a guide, or at least someone to keep an eye on them in the meantime.” The man, though he remained stoic and listened to Leon, heard the squeaks and momentarily looked down at the Dream Eater.

Fusa quickly walked over and was able to pick up the Meow Wow, avoiding the gaze of the man in the red cloak, pulling it away and holding it in her arms. Leon took notice of this and looked at her in confusion.

“Is this your pet?” the man inquired to her.

She nodded to him without a word. He looked over her and saw Max and Gus, raising a dark eyebrow slightly, but didn’t think anything else of it.

“And are these two with you as well?” he asked again, pointing his gauntlet-covered hand to both the Knight and the Gremlin without taking his eyes off of her.

Fusa turned her head to see Max and Gus still there before turning her head back to the mysterious man and nodding again.

“I figured that—you’re not much of a talker, I guess,” he then spoke to her without changing his tone.

Fusa, however, gulped and began to talk a few steps back from him, though Leon noticed her nervousness and stepped forward a bit.

“Fusa, Max, and Gus,” he explained to them about the mysterious man, “This is another member of the Committee, so he’s on our side. He keeps watch over the Castle Division of the Committee and we make sure that he and the Division are kept safe.”

“The name is Vincent Valentine,” the cloaked man introduced himself to them without revealing any emotion to them, extending his gloved right hand to Fusa, since she was the closest to him, “Just call me Vincent.”

She looked down at the gloved hand in slight confusion, not sure on what to do. Nonetheless, she carefully put Meow Wow down and accepted his hand with her own, allowing him to shake her hand slightly in acceptance. Once he pulled his hand away from hers, Fusa brought her hand to see if he had left something on it, but found it was empty.

“You’ve never shook hands up until now,” the man, Vincent, spoke to her again as she looked to him before putting her hand down to her side again.

“Well… no,” she answered with a blush on her cheeks again, but she introduced herself as well, “But I’m Fusa, by the way. These are my friends, Max and Gus.” When she introduced Vincent to her companions, he looked over to where the Knight and the Gremlin were to understand what she was talking about.

“So you need a guide to show you and your friends around Hollow Bastion,” Vincent spoke to her once he brought his attention back to her.

She nodded her head a bit in answer to his statement to her, not sure if she would ask him if he would do so. Before she could speak, however, Cid was the first to speak up a bit.

“Got some news for you, Vincent: We’ve been getting readings of clouds coming together and forming onto to the ground from the sky with multiple flashes of colors recently alongside of some new Heartless activity,” Cid then spoke up as he removed his toothpick to speak and turned around to them, “Leon’s already requested to investigate it in the Gorge when it happens again. Then we can find out whether or not the source is also an enemy or not.”

Vincent only looked to Leon when Cid mentioned the other, but said nothing else.

“Wait, clouds forming… onto to the ground?” Fusa asked in amazement when she overhead this and turned her head to Cid, something that made Vincent curious about her, almost as if she sounded interested in finding out what that meant. Leon, on the other hand, had a bad feeling about what she asked. To her, it was a spark of interest that could lead to something more; to him, it would be disaster if her life, as well as the lives of her friends, would be endangered.

“Yeah, we’re trying to figure that one out,” Cid answered as he looked to Fusa and asked her with a raised eyebrow, “Why you ask anyway, kid? You want to fill in for Leon?”

“What? No, I just—” Fusa tried to answer, but she was cut off.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Leon responded to her as she turned her head to him, “If the source of the readings proves to be far more powerful than you are, then let me handle it. We’re not going to risk you getting killed.”

She heard this and nodded slowly, thinking it through about the possibility that the source they were talking about was stronger than she was, maybe worse than the Red Armor. Then again, there would be something of use she and her friends _could_ do now that they were at Hollow Bastion, no matter the cost.

“I’d hate to step into the conversation—rather, float in,” Gus began to speak up as he floated towards the group a bit, much to Fusa’s surprise, “But we do have a world to explore. Shall we go on ahead and make our way around?”

Leon heard this request and looked over to Vincent for approval. The mysterious man took notice and gave a slow and solemn nod to him, to which Leon then looked over to Fusa and her group to respond to Gus’s question.

“Fine, but Vincent’s coming along as well,” he answered, though Fusa turned her head to Vincent behind her and her friends with interest, “He’ll make sure that you guys stick with him around here, okay?”

Fusa nodded, followed by nods of agreement from Max and Gus. Meow Wow, in contrast, merely scratched the back of its ear with its right hind leg, not aware of the small talk. She turned to Vincent, who had part of his tattered cloak open for the small group, though none of them moved. The mysterious being looked up to them without a change of face, just a raised eyebrow to them.

“Perhaps we could walk?” the young Keyblade wielder suggested with a shrug of her shoulders and a nervous smile, not knowing what to expect.

Vincent, keeping his eyes on her and her small group, soon lowered his cloak down before turning away and then leading the small group out of the hut and back out into the Borough again, with Meow Wow hobbling next to its master. As they were leaving, Fusa looked over to Meow Wow to see it next to her before looking ahead to follow the enigmatic figure and exit the hut as well. It was not long that the door closed behind her, leaving the Committee be.


	14. Chapter 13- Hollow Bastion: Vincent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now accompanied by Vincent Valentine, Fusa and her small band of companions make their way in Hollow Bastion. But who's to say that Vincent isn't hiding anything of his own?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First up, my apologizes for not updating in a while, folks. I am currently busy with college, family, and the like. But I am working on new chapters at the moment when I have the time for it. I am not making any promises that I will finish up on them immediately, but I will try.

As the small party were walking out of the Borough and to the Marketplace with Vincent leading the way, Fusa couldn't help but feel curious towards the mysterious tatter-cloaked man. For one person to pass by the group, he never acknowledged their presence, not even a simple nod of the head to them. It both intrigued and confused her as to what made him tick in his head. However, Gremlin Gus took notice this and floated over to Fusa's side, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned her shoulder slightly when she felt him politely tap her shoulder and eventually sat down after receiving her nod of approval.

"This Vincent Valentine is quite the non-social fellow without his fellow committees, isn't he?" Gus inquired to her before explaining briefly as to why he said that, "He doesn't seem to speak to anyone that passes by us, nor does he take notice of the shops at all."

"But he did offer us into that coloured cloak of his… whatever was supposed to happen if we went into it," Fusa responded in a hushed voice so that the mysterious man wouldn't hear them, "At least he's nice enough to lead us around here."

In spite of hearing what the young Keyblade wielder and her Gremlin companion were talking about as the group continued to make their way in the Marketplace, Vincent chose not to speak up in recognition. He knew why he wouldn't acknowledge those they pass by, but he prefers not to reveal any of his secrets of his past. Especially not towards someone young like Fusa and her fellow Knight. On the other hand, Vincent did take a look around to see the shops, being run by two normal people, a small strange creature with a pom-pom antenna and a pair of small purple bat wings, and three identical white ducks much like Scrooge McDuck in clothing that are identical to each other's yet of different colors, to see if either Fusa or her companions would be able to buy something. Or at least if they have any Munny on them.

"Hey, this is where we first arrived here," Fusa spoke upon taking notice of that they were at the Marketplace now. She also took notice with the variety of shops and a few noticeable small treasure chests scattered around available while they were there. "Maybe we could get something here while we're at it, yeah?"

"If you want to," Vincent stoically responded without looking to her or her friends, "No one's holding you back."

Fusa, of course, was surprised by the man's response, but didn't think much of it as she was given acceptance to walk forward to see what's there at the shops. She noticed an Item Shop, an Armor Shop, an Accessories Shop, and the odd creature's set up workshop. The last one caught her eye the most and she walked over to it out of curiosity, walking down the stairs and approaching the workshop. Fusa examined it with her light pink eyes, not knowing what to make of it as Max, Gus, and Meow Wow joined her.

"Good afternoon, kupo!" the creature spoke up, surprising her and causing her to jump back a bit, "Would you like to browse through my collection of goods, kupo?"

"You can talk!" she exclaimed in awe, walking forward to it again.

"Of course I can talk, kupo," the creature responded to her with a nod, its pom-pom antenna bobbling forward and back with its nod, "I'm a proud salesperson, kupo."

Fusa had no other words, except she could only reach in with her right index finger out and began to poke at the fluffy pom-pom. This ruffled up the creature and it squeaked loudly for her to stop; she did and looked at the creature with surprise.

"Do not make contact with my pom-pom, kupo! I'm on thin ice with my patience because the amount of customers poking at it while I'm working, kupo!" The creature scolded at her, much to her shock, though she winced a bit at its' scolding.

"Sorry about that, sir," Fusa apologized with a few steps back from the creature a bit before Gus spoke up.

"Forgive my friend for her curiosity, good salesperson," the Gremlin engineer calmly spoke to the creature, "She's never seen one like yourself as this is her first time seeing one of your kind. Come now, what are you exactly?"

The creature turned its' head to Gus, then to Fusa as if to give her a glare and she had to hold her hands up a bit in defense in case it was to speak again, and to Gus again to answer his question.

"Well, now that you asked, kupo, I'm a Moogle," the workshop keeper creature answered to the Gremlin's question in a polite manner, "And my name is Mog, kupo." He then asked them again once Fusa lowered her hands now that she didn't have to worry about the Moogle scolding her again, "So, would you like to browse and see what you want to buy, kupo? Or would you like to sell some goods, kupo? Feel free to browse, kupo, because these goods carry special abilities for travel and protection!"

Fusa was curious to see what's available at Mog's workshop, looking over to see what's available, see that there were some Potions and other variations of medicine, a couple of red and blue shards, a few dark shards much like the one that she picked up back at the Mysterious Tower, and a few jars of Shield Cookies. She took a look at each of the different prices available before pulling out her Munny pouch and looking inside to see how much she has.

"Excuse me, but what makes these goods—er, whatever they are—'special' in abilities, per se?" Fusa inquired to Mog as she picked up one of the dark shards and held it in her fingers carefully, her light pink eyes examining them curiously.

"Ah, that's the Dark Shard, kupo," the Moogle began to explain as he flew over to her with his purple bat wings, carefully grabbing the shard from between her fingers, "It has an immunity from the Darkness, though the immunity is not so big, kupo…" He then added as he pointed his finger, or at least if he had fingers, to one of Fusa's dark blue bands above her elbow, "I can always weld it onto your bands to give them that immunity, kupo."

Fusa looked over to where Mog pointed at on her band before looking at the Moogle again, showing a spark of interest at the idea. Then again, she thought about supplying Max and Gus the same offer as well, a way of giving her thanks to them for coming along. Maybe even Vincent, too, for guiding them around this world.

"Do you think you can do the same for my friends and their armour as well?" Fusa asked him with a hopeful nod, though Mog took a look at not only Max and Gus, but also at Vincent.

Vincent himself lifted his head up slightly with crimson eyes on Fusa when he heard the young girl mention "friends" to the Moogle. In spite of his stoic expression, he seemed to be really surprised at this generosity, not so much her optimism. He thought that either she was insane to consider him as one of her "friends" or brave for the same reason. Nonetheless, Mog nodded at her request and held his arms out for her to give him her bands. Fusa took notice and began to carefully remove the bands from off of her arms, one by one, before handing them over to the Moogle, whom accepted the bands and placed them down on a metal counter. Once a few Dark Shards were welded into the bands, as well as into Max's goggles, Gus's gloves, and Vincent's cloak, Fusa took out some Munny for the Moogle and paid him for the welding process, as well as for a few Potions and a Tent for later

"Thank you, kupo, for the payment," Mog thanked her as he accepted the Munny from her.

"Ah thank you for welding the shards," Fusa thanked the Moogle in return before being given the bands back to her, allowing her to reattach the bands back on her arms again, and she spoke to him, taking out a bit of extra Munny for him as a tip, "And here—an extra to help keep your business open."

The Moogle looked at the extra Munny that Fusa had in her hands, much to his surprise, but accepted it out of generosity and gave a nod to her.

"Thank you, kupo!" Mog thanked her again, this time with a bit more elation in his voice as she gave a nod to him with a smile and was about to pay for more items on the stand.

Vincent stopped her by placing his golden gauntlet plated hand on her shoulder rather firmly, which surprised her and caused her to turn her head to him.

"We shall be going now," he spoke stoically to her before removing his hand off of her shoulder and began to walk ahead of the group as Fusa was watching him with curious light pink eyes watching him.

"Erm, yes," she responded quietly with a meek nod, intimidated by his tone, as Max and Gus joined her side.

Despite her unsure feelings about being near the mysterious man, Fusa ran ahead to follow him, followed by Max, Gus, and Meow Wow. There, the small group headed back to the Borough, but this time, they were making their way over to a stone ramp by the houses, with Vincent guiding the way for them for a different route. He stopped in his tracks, causing Fusa to accidentally bump into him as did Max when he bumped into her as well. But Vincent did not react quickly to this. When Fusa hastily backed up from him after Max backed up from her to give her some space, he simply stood straight back up again.

"There's a ramp leading up to the Bailey," Vincent then spoke again to the group as he turned his head slightly to Fusa, causing her to take a few steps back to give him space, "Just be on the lookout for Heartless."

As soon as he said that, he walked ahead up the ramp and expected the small group to follow behind him. He kept his dark gloved hand on the handle of his three-barreled revolver strapped in its holster on his right thigh in case any Heartless was to come out to attack. But Vincent kept his demeanor intact, being one with no fear.

"'Just be on the lookout for Heartless'…" Fusa repeated to herself in a quiet voice as she began following the enigmatic being and Max did the same as well behind her with Gus having decided to sit on his shoulder in the meantime and Meow Wow tagging along behind them.

By the time they arrived onto the Bailey, Vincent led them over to the balcony to show them what they needed to know of the world itself. Fusa brought her hands to rest on the top of the stone wall in front of her as Max did the same. Meow Wow tried to hop on top of the stone wall next to Fusa, but instead sat its rear legs down as it looked up at her rather curiously as to what she would do, paying no attention to Max, Gus, or Vincent.

Fusa noticed that the enigmatic being appeared to be troubled, though she didn't know what or why. It was rather strange, she noted based on her observations as she examined Vincent's posture as he placed his hands firmly on the top of the stone wall in front of them. She didn't know if she could use her powers to see what was wrong with his heart, but went against it with concerns that he wouldn't let her anyway. It would not feel right to her.

Vincent shifted his attention to Fusa as she quickly looked away from him to see the view from the balcony and said nothing. He raised an eyebrow at her, to which she looked over at him again with concern. Just as she was about to speak, Gus was the first to break the silence with a question.

"What has happened here in Hollow Bastion, Sir Vincent?" The Gremlin inquired to the group's enigmatic guide.

At first, Vincent could not answer as the memories of home were none too bright. In his quietness, the index finger of his gauntlet covered left hand began to slowly tap on the stone of the top of the balcony wall in thought. He knew that he shouldn't have accepted the request to be this group's guide for this place; they would see him as anything else that they wouldn't like at all. It wouldn't hurt them to learn about Hollow Bastion's past, anyway.

"Up until a year ago, this world was corrupted with Darkness," Vincent began to explain to them as they looked out to find nothing except dusk covered valleys and canyons, "It was controlled by this witch named Maleficent, who proclaimed herself as ruler and leader of a group of villains like herself. She listed a commander for the Heartless all over the affected worlds by the name of Pete to collect and raise an army of Heartless for her. It didn't matter who he targeted; if they were strong enough to fight, then he would go after them to recruit them by force if he needed to."

Fusa's head snapped back forward when she remembered that name before she looked down at the wall—the very same name that the Heartless Commander called himself when he threatened her back at the Mysterious Tower. Then she remembered Yen Sid and her fingers twitched from where her hands rested at as she began to ponder in concern of her master and his well-being. Vincent noticed Fusa's fingers twitch, but he didn't speak about it when Max started to talk.

"Wait, Pete? He used to be Dad's friend and neighbor back when I was a kid and he used to let me hang out with P.J.," the young Knight spoke to Vincent in confusion, to which Fusa turned her head to him and Gus listened to him as well, "I don't remember much from when he was banished from our hometown of Disney Town, but reports vary from the King banishing him for numerous crimes to the Queen imprisoning him for mischievous conduct. Either way, maybe that's why he became a Heartless Commander…" Then he added as he looked down and shook his head a bit, "Man, Peej isn't going to like it when I tell him about this—well, when we get back home, I mean."

Though Vincent didn't appear to understand what the young Knight was talking about, he did understand what betrayal was, maybe a little too well. Then he continued to speak nonetheless as Fusa looked out over at the Gorge before bringing her attention back to the castle itself.

"A year ago, the Heartless invasion ended temporarily," he explained as the young Newborn Nobody brought her attention to Vincent with curious eyes, "Maleficent was killed off while Pete was going around different worlds to gather up Heartless. We would later come to find out that there was much more as there was a third person involved: Ansem. He had been researching what the Heart was like for many years and this knowledge had presumably consumed him to the point where he became a Heartless as well. Over time, his visions became twisted and our home was remade into what he wanted."

Fusa thought to herself with a puzzled feeling from this information on this "Ansem" person as she looked down without a word. She was very unsure as to why anyone would go through the trouble of actually becoming a Heartless if they knew what it would happen to them. There was also great perplexity as she tried to think about why this Ansem would do this to a place that everyone here, and maybe he himself as well, called home. It just didn't make much sense to her.

As she was thinking about this, however, she spotted a strange location out in the distance but couldn't figure out what it was. Vincent noticed that she was looking out at the one location that no one should ever go to before redirecting himself to explain about that as well.

"Beyond Hollow Bastion is Villains' Vale," Vincent continued as he pointed his gauntleted finger to the valley and canyons ahead with a broken and desolated castle with the Heartless emblem on the large middle tower, surrounded by a moat of dark matter. "It's the only place that the Committee has not gone out to, but a warning was issued out to not venture out to beyond the cliff in the Gorge until we can figure out a way to vanquish that many Heartless. Leon has told us that one day, we'll rid Hollow Bastion of the Heartless, then it can be fully restored. It might take a while, he added, but we'll get there when we can."

As they looked out from the Bailey, however, Vincent's attention was brought to the skies when he heard roll of thunder and looked up to notice that there were dark clouds slowly forming with cracks of yellow light appearing. He then brought his attention back over to Fusa and her small company, knowing that even if she and Max can fight, they wouldn't be properly prepared to fight whatever is coming out of the clouds. He needed to take them back to the hut with the other Restoration Committee members, as he quickly noticed that the sight of the dark clouds forming is quite alarming.

"Let's make our way back," he then advised in his stoic tone to Fusa and her group as they looked over at him again, "We're expecting a storm."

Fusa heard his tone and realized that it was off to her—it was passive, yet there was something telling her that he knew more than he was letting on. That's when she noticed the dark clouds forming and looked over at Max and Gus with a look of worry. Both of them didn't like the tone that their guide gave them, but they had a feeling that this was serious when the Keyblade wielder was worried. Then she was the first to follow behind Vincent to head off of the balcony, not noticing Meow Wow watching and joining her side, before the young Knight and the Gremlin follow her lead.

Just as they made their exit away from the balcony, however, a pack of Heartless stopped them from advancing any further, some Shadows, some Soldiers, and two Large Bodies. Vincent's eyes shifted to Fusa and her small group as the young Nobody summoned her Keyblade in her right hand and Max grabbed his Skateboard Shield from his back. Then he shifted his attention over to Gus, who took out a wrench, and Meow Wow, who was just standing there and shaking its tail. Then he brought his red-eyed attention back to the Heartless in front of them with his gloved hand on the handle of his gun, gripping at his handle.

That's when one of the Shadows slunk down to the ground and crawled on the ground in a quick motion, eventually pouncing up from out of the ground and clawed Fusa's right leg with its right leg. She gasped with pain and instinctively thwacked the creature off of her leg. The Shadow Heartless was tossed hit the stone wall and dissolved into Darkness when it collapsed onto the ground, something that the rest of the Heartless took notice of. Fusa cringed with worry as soon as the Heartless hit the wall and its brethren turned their attention to her and the small group with a possible vengeance.

Then some of the Heartless charged after the group as Vincent quickly took the gun out, revealing that the three-barreled revolver was also three cylinder-shaped with a silver chain containing the shape of the three-headed hound and a wing attached to it. Fusa looked over to see the revolver with a look of surprise before she turned her head back to the Heartless with Max taking a defensive stance.

In the fight, as Fusa used Guard and combined it with Horizontal and Vertical Slashes, Max used his Skateboard Shield as a boomerang again along with using it as a shield. Even though her arm was starting to wear down by the weight of the Keyblade, she continued to fight as she did a Sliding Dash forward with a Thrust of her Keyblade at three of the Heartless. Then she noticed that Vincent was using a different method of fighting—he was quickly firing his revolver, but he was going at it quickly as if he was a mere ghost to them with his red cape melded for a few moments. As she was briefly distracted, one of the Shadows pounced onto her and tried to claw at her back, to which she caught on and brought it to the stone walls to squish it with the teeth of her Keyblade, causing it to fade away and leave behind dark residue on the stone walls. When one of the Soldier Heartless jumped at her, Fusa swung her Keyblade from the ground up and struck it with an Upper Slash, hitting it on the chest and causing it to fade away as well.

As the fight continued, two Large Bodies appeared from the Darkness, much to Fusa's dismay that they would do the same as before in Traverse Town. Vincent, on the other hand, noticed the Large Bodies and only focused on quickly reloading the barrels of the revolver with new rounds. Then he rejoined the fighting when Fusa was about to square off against one of the Large Bodies.

As the group fought off any appearing Shadows and Soldiers in the area, the subtle light pink glow began to appear surrounding Fusa's body again, but this time, she brought her attention to a couple of Soldiers that were unintentionally affected by the glow when they went after her. Vincent paused for a moment when he noticed that the two Soldier Heartless did not attack her, as did Max and Gus with surprise at the sight. Fusa herself was surprised by this, but she focused on her powers and wordlessly brought her attention to the Large Body that was about to fight her before charging at it. The two Soldier Heartless rushed to her sides and then charged at the Large Body when she did.

Then she began to use her Keyblade to fight the Large Body as the two Soldiers, like puppets on strings, pounced at the Heartless and began to scratch and kick it in sync with her movement. The Large Body grew to become overpowered by this force until Fusa gave the final blow with the thrust of her Keyblade, vanquishing it. From the moment that the glow disappeared, Fusa felt winded from this power and the Soldier Heartless snapped out of the control before going after her again. Gus took notice and prepared his wrench before throwing it through one of the Soldiers' heads and causing it to fall forward into a pile of residue. She looked over at him before giving him a nod and then continued to fight any Heartless that was coming her way.

Just as the group was having the upper hand, the surviving Large Body swung around and smacked Vincent square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and leaving him unconscious. In the struggle, Fusa looked over to see Vincent still down on the ground before rushing over to his side to make sure none of the Heartless would go after his unconscious body. Her light pink eyes shifted quickly as she noticed that the Heartless had followed her, to which she stopped and then brought her focus to fight them off with the basic skills. Then she went over to find that his body was cold and knelt down to check on his condition to see if he was alive or not.

"Vincent, please wake up…" Fusa quietly pleaded with panic rising in her eyes as the Large Body stomped forward with another attack planned.

She didn't know what to do except prevent the Heartless from going further towards Vincent by bringing her Keyblade up in front of her, squeezing her eyes shut, and bracing herself for the attack. Just as the Large Body brought its clenched fist down at the guard of the Keyblade, the Heartless was struck by a fireball before collapsing back, disappearing from sight the moment it made hard impact onto the stone ground. Fusa opened one eye upon hearing a low growl before opening the other and brought her head up when she noticed a shadow looming over her. She then quickly crawled out from underneath to find a surprising sight. In Vincent's place was a large blue-purple beast with a red mane, orange pupilless eyes, sharp claws, and dark horns that glared at the Heartless in front of them before charging at the Heartless and pouncing at them with a loud roar. Max, who was defending himself from the Heartless, took notice of the beast and got out of the way so that it would fight off the Soldiers and Shadows while Gus stopped momentarily with a look of bewilderment on his face.

After a moment of silence, the subtle light pink glow began to glow around Fusa again, but this time from her eyes, where she can see a silhouette of Vincent and his heart inside of the beast, which surprised her even more. She then shook her head and the glow faded away before she went back into battle again, joining the now beastly Vincent's side in the fight. Fusa didn't know if Vincent himself was fully in control of this form, so she was unsure about using her Heart powers to control the beast. The only thing she could try to do was to avoid enraging him further. So she resumed fighting with a combination of Horizontal Slashes and Guard along with moving forward with a thrust of her Keyblade in a Sliding Dash, vanquishing some more Heartless.

The numbers of the Heartless began to dwindle down until there was very few Heartless to replace those that were killed in the fight, much to the group's relief as they were coming close to exhaustion. It is during the last leg of the fight that the remaining Heartless gathered together in one clump for strength in numbers, something that Fusa was not looking forward to. She had a feeling that any efforts to use her Heart powers again would be risky, especially when she spent some of them on the Soldier Heartless.

Soon, Vincent was the first to charge at the cluster of Heartless and Fusa followed behind him, Max and Gus following suit with Meow Wow waiting in the wings. The young Keyblade wielder only slashed the Heartless vertically and horizontally as Max defended himself and Gus from the creatures' attacks. When the last remaining Soldier Heartless jumped at her, Fusa instinctively turned and quickly executed a Rotating Horizontal Slash that knocked the Heartless to the ground, the teeth hitting it soon killed it. It was from the last Heartless that the battle was over and done with Fusa's Keyblade vanishing into thin air as she was left with scratches and bruises, Max cleaning the dark residue off of his Skateboard Shield before putting it back behind him, Gus wiping off residue off of his wrench and putting it away into his bag, and Vincent relaxing his posture as he was breathing hard. The only things that had to be done now for them was to examine the damage and see what remains among the residue.


	15. Chapter 14- Hollow Bastion: Thunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After fighting the Heartless with Vincent Valentine and witness another side of him in the fight, Fusa and her party are split by his nature while Vincent learns a little more about Fusa. But things are about to change when an unexpected surprise comes to Hollow Bastion...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks, I am working on Chapter 17 at the moment. Patience, please, as a new semester just started at my college last week. But no worries, I am at least picking up on this.

After the fight between the Heartless, Vincent in his beastly appearance hunched forward to catch his breath as Fusa collected orbs and any leftover Munny off of the ground, her Heart powers soon refilling and her scrapes and bruises eventually disappearing. Max took out a couple of Potions for him and Gus to take to heal themselves while Meow Wow found a yellow shard from the dark residue on the stone ground, picked it up with its mouth, and brought it over to Fusa as it wagged its tail. She looked over, crouched down to her Dream Eater, and opened the palm of her hand where the Dream Eater then dropped it onto her palm, which allowed her to stand back up again and close her palm after examining it.

Then Fusa looked over to find Vincent, returning to his normal appearance with his red cape and golden gauntlet, hunched with his elbow on his knee and catching his breath. She placed the yellow shard into her backpack and took out a Potion, bringing it over to him so that he would recover. There, she approached him and offered some to him as he took notice and looked up at her with the stoic look on his face. Then he got to his feet and walked past her without a word to her as he picked his revolver up and put it into the holster again.

Fusa was uncertain as to what to think of this: either the fact that her and her friends' guide could transform into a beast or that he didn't want a Potion to heal himself, even if it didn't smell good. So she put the Potion away into her backpack and put it back on, catching up to him. Max and Gus took notice and followed after her, as did Meow Wow, as Vincent descended down the stone ramp away from the Bailey. He heard the group following behind and stopped before looking back at Fusa and her friends wordlessly, which got them to stop.

"Why didn't you leave me be during the fight when I transformed?" He asked her with the same stoic tone, expecting some sort of answer that he was a "friend" or that "no one needed to be alone" mushy stuff. He then added to her as she looked up at him, "I'm not safe around anyone that gets in the way, especially towards those in this world for the first time like you and your companions. Was there a reason for you to try and risk your life for me?"

Instead, Fusa had nothing to say except the only thing she did do was hang her head in silence when she couldn't think of anything to answer with. Vincent raised an eyebrow at the lack of response and thought about what he said to her. There was definitely something about her that he couldn't figure out, which was unusual for him. This kid here has been nothing except quiet and compassionate towards him whereas he was a guide to her and her friends. He felt that he was being a little too harsh on her, especially for what she tried to do.

"Don't explain it," he then advised her as she looked up at him again and he started to walk away from the group. "It wasn't anything you did."

"Vincent, wait," Fusa finally said to him, getting him to stop as she approached to him. "I may not have the proper answer for what I did. I'm not sure if I even have an answer for my actions. But deep down, I want to do what's right to help others no matter what. I want to be strong and I need help with that."

Vincent soon pondered over Fusa's words with some consideration. He has seen her powers in action during the fight and she has a good point as to why she couldn't answer his question before. Then again, she does need some help into figuring it out as well and was not going to get it from just explanation alone. He then turned his head to her before turning his body to face her and her friends as Max, Gus, and the Dream Eater looked over at him.

"Fine," he said to her without a change in his tone before adding to her and her friends as a request, "However, if I'm going to be your guide, then pay attention closely to everything I tell you. Hollow Bastion might be in the process of being restored, but like what happened just now, it's still not out of the woods yet. Be on the lookout if there's any Heartless around and stay close. Understand?"

Max and Gus only nodded immediately and Fusa only nodded after a few second delay as she had spaced out a bit in Vincent's words. Vincent himself only sighed through his nose before turning away and beginning to walk ahead of them, leaving the Bailey. Fusa was the first to follow him, as Max and Gus followed behind her and Meow Wow tagged along from behind. As they exited out of the Bailey, however, Fusa noticed that the dark clouds were getting darker and only walked faster with a look of fear in her eyes. Then she remembered that she can wield the Keyblade and use the attribute of Heart before slowing her pace so it would match her guide and her friends.

* * *

When they headed to a different section of the town that was close to the Borough, Vincent stopped upon hearing an odd sound and went on high alert if there were any Heartless around. Fusa saw him stop and halted as well, so did Max and Gus. Meow Wow, on the other hand, simply walked over to its owner's side and stopped when it got to Fusa's left ankle. The group's guide brought his right hand to grip on the holster of his revolver in case there would be any Heartless around, while Fusa waited for movement to summon her Keyblade into her right hand. It was not long until Vincent looked up to see a couple of Soldier Heartless appearing to be fighting each other for a small Treasure Chest on the ledge of a nearby building. Fusa and her friends also looked up to see the two Soldiers as she was about to summon her Keyblade into her hand until the Shadows noticed them and promptly teleported from sight. She then lowered her hand back to her side again once the Heartless were gone.

Vincent then turned his head to the group before turning back forward and walking over to the wall leading to up to the Treasure Chest, his attention going up the wall itself. It is here that he began to calculate the wall's height and how to get up there. Fusa looked on with curiosity before walking over to join him, looking up at the wall without a word and examining it as best as she could. Vincent then paused and turned his attention to her as she was occupied with the sight of the wall. However, he didn't say anything to her and instead focused on how her light pink eyes were moving to inspect what the wall was, which made him about what she can do.

"It looks like you can use your Keyblade to get the Treasure Chest up on that ledge," Gus spoke up to Fusa as he floated over to her and caused her to bring her attention to him, "Perhaps you can use that skill from Traverse Town from whence you and Max fought the Red Armour to reach to the Treasure Chest."

"Skill?" Fusa asked him with a confused look on her face. Then she realized what he was talking about before responding to him, "You meant Flowmotion, right?"

"It won't be that easy," Vincent stoically pointed out as Gus turned to him and Fusa brought her attention to him as well, "This wall leading to the ledge is going to require freerunning just to get up there or some teamwork." Then he looked over at Fusa and her friends and added, "And I doubt that would be possible for the latter option."

"Perhaps you could teach young Fusa on how to get up onto the ledge by this 'freerunning'," Gus then suggested as an idea, much to the young Newborn Nobody's surprise, as Max joined them. "I'm sure this will help increase her Flowmotion skills."

"That sounds like a better idea," Max added in agreement with a nod, "Besides, it's a lot cooler to watch someone doing freerunning."

Vincent looked over at the group without a word and then brought his attention away from them to think about it. It wasn't long until he had an answer for them, to which they listened to him.

"Come this way," he beckoned to Fusa without a change in tone as he took some feet away from the wall and she quickly followed him. At the distance away from the wall, he instructed to her sincerely, "The first thing you do is keep an eye on the wall. Find your momentum and use it as your balance. Then once you have that momentum, use your body strength to push yourself up. There's always practice if you're not successful."

Fusa then nodded to Vincent before preparing herself for the challenge, recounting what he has instructed her to do as she positioned her feet so that they were far from each other. She kept her eyes on the wall and then quickly dashed over to it, making her first step onto the stone wall and lifting herself up. But before she reached to the top, she found herself to be falling back to the ground until she gripped onto the edge of the top itself with her right hand. That's when she had an idea: lighten the load on her body by removing her backpack. Then she began slipping the left strap of her backpack off, carefully bringing her left hand up to grip on the edge and let her right hand down so that the right strap of the backpack can slip off of her as well. When the backpack slipped off of her shoulder, she caught its handle and carefully hoisted it up so it can go over and touch the surface. Finally, she brought both hands onto the edge and hoisted both of her feet onto the wall as Vincent, Meow Wow, and her friends watched with mostly anticipation.

Once she got onto the next level on top of the wall, Fusa then summoned her Keyblade and walked over to the Treasure Chest to examine it. On her examination of the Chest, she recognized it to have the same appearance as the ones in Twilight Town and the Mysterious Tower. Then her thoughts wandered to the Tower and she soon became bothered again by her departure to Traverse Town. That's when she heard Meow Wow mewing and whimpering below and snapped out of it before looking down to see the Dream Eater Spirit waiting for her. She gave it a soft smile with this comfort and soon turned her head back to the Treasure Chest to open it. Then she knelt down and inserted the Keyblade into the lock, turning it, unlocking it, and finally opening it. Inside was a jar of Shield Cookies for Meow Wow to have later, to which she removed the Keyblade from the Chest and put it down to get her backpack to put the jar away.

Just as she was about to put the backpack back on, Fusa paused and turned her head to notice that there was another Treasure Chest, this one a large blue Chest also like the one from the Mysterious Tower as well, on another level. She lightly squeezed the handle of the Keyblade in her grip in thought before looking over at Vincent, Max, and Gus with hesitation. Then she made her way to the next wall and examined its height to see how tall it was. She didn't notice the others heading over to where she was at, something that she was well unaware of.

"So… Gus," Vincent began to speak to Gus as the Gremlin turned his head to the enigmatic guide, "You should know more about this one. What's the catch?"

"Well, the young one is quite the curious case, if I must admit," Gus answered to him as they watched Fusa. "No past, no memories, nothing that could come to mind in any sense of remembering at least. Just a Keyblade in hand and a power of Heart, and that's it. That's why we're on this journey—so that anything would be of use to us for Fusa to regain any of them."

"For the best, I'd hope," Vincent only added quietly before turning away to walk away from them, much to Gus and Max's concern to him.

Just as Fusa was about make a quick dash to the next wall, she looked over to see Vincent walking away and became troubled about him. From her troubles, her focus quivered and began to falter until she remained on the large Treasure Chest and locked onto it. Fusa then dashed to the wall and made her first step up onto the stone wall, running up until she brought both of her palms onto the surface and swung both of her legs over the edge and onto the level itself. Once she was on the level, Fusa carefully stood up to avoid falling and brushed off any dirt off of her capri pants from when her legs landed on the stone surface. Then she brought her attention to the Treasure Chest and summoned her Keyblade as she approached it to examine it before inserting it into the lock and then unlocking it to open it. Inside of the Treasure Chest was a map of their location, much to her confusion, but she only shrugged and rolled the map up for safekeeping. With the map rolled up, Fusa then brought herself to climb down from the ledge and, as she was putting the map away into her backpack, suddenly noticed Vincent by himself.

She began to take some time to reconsider before putting her backpack back on and got off of the ledge, landing on the ground on her feet and falling on her behind caused the weight of the jar of Shield Cookies. Max and Gus noticed this before going over to her and offering her help. She looked up at them before nodding and grabbing their hands so that they would pull up. From there, they turned to Vincent, who leaned against the stone wall of a building under reconstruction, and then turned back to themselves to speak with each other.

"What's his deal, anyway? First he's a guide for us, now he just wants to leave us be," Max started off as Fusa listened to him.

"On the other hand, Sir Vincent needs the space to himself," Gus responded to the young Knight as the young Newborn Nobody turned her head to him. "Have you seen his transformation during the fight? Suppose that comes out during another bout with the Heartless but he doesn't have enough strength to properly use it. He does need that rest, yes."

"Yeah, but he doesn't have to be so harsh towards us just to deliver us that message," Max rebuffed with a counterpoint.

As both Knight and Gummi pilot continued to discuss about the way that their guide was treating them, Fusa was the only one that remained observant throughout their argument until she looked over at Vincent again, her concerns even more apparent. She then looked down and turned her head away from him before bringing her eyes up to Max and Gus. After a few moments, the Gremlin was able to stop their discussion to allow them to speak with the young Newborn Nobody with their own concerns. Before Gus was able to speak, Fusa turned her head back to Vincent and then turned her body around to walk over to him. She then stopped when he heard her and turned his head a bit to her, to which she halted to a stop and took a couple of steps back from him.

"Mister Vincent—" Fusa was about to speak to him before he stopped her from speaking any further.

"I know what you're going to say," Vincent then explained to her with his voice remaining cold and unemotional, though she could tell that he was hiding something. "I've already heard it before and it's not supposed to be a reminder to me. Let's face it, Fusa: we have some similarities, but we're completely different. You have your issues, and I have mine."

"Well… no," she responded quietly with uncertainty as she looked down. "I wasn't going to say that at all…"

"Then what were you going to say?" He then asked her without second thoughts.

"Thank you," she answered to him before adding, "For being our guide. I just didn't get a chance to say it before."

Before Vincent could respond, he heard a noise, which were shattering of glass and thudding of stone and wood, and quickly snapped his head to the source of where the sound came from. Then he brought his attention back to Fusa and only gave a nod of acknowledgement of her gratitude before turning away and rushing to locate the noise. She watched him leave and turned her head to Max and Gus to join her before bringing her head back ahead and rushing away to join Vincent in case there were to be any Heartless around. They looked at each other before hurrying over to join her as well with Meow Wow watching them and then leaving the area to catch up to them.

When the group arrived at another part of the town, only this one having bystanders avoiding broken glass and falling wooden beams, Vincent was the first to stop and brought his left arm up to keep Fusa and her friends back in case something was to go wrong. From a distance, they saw a cluster of Shadows and Soldiers going after innocent residents that noticed the group and went after them. The group's guide soon lowered his arm and took his revolver out of its holster with his right hand as Fusa summoned her Keyblade and Max got his Skateboard Shield from his back in defense. When the first three Shadows jumped to pounce on Vincent, Fusa hurried to in front of him and quickly used Guard against them, causing them to fall to the ground and then stand right back up again. This allowed the rest of the Shadows and the Soldiers to go after them in response to her defense as the group prepared themselves to fight. It was from the Heartless's charge at them that Vincent was the first to step forward, his body seemingly melding into his red cape again, and Fusa hesitantly following suit as Max took his Skateboard Shield from behind and holding it in front of him for defense. Gus, who noticed a couple of bystanders were still at the area just as he was about to get his wrench out to join the fight, quickly diverged from the group momentarily and redirected the bystanders out to safety. At least he did this after they expressed confusion of his appearance.

A few minutes after the cluster of Heartless went after the group, Fusa's body began to glow the subtle pink color again and the next thing she did immediately was that she directed her attention to a Soldier, causing it to stop and look over at her as if she was at its command. She then readied her Keyblade and dashed forward, striking Heartless with Horizontal and Vertical Slashes, as the Soldier followed her motions and began to strike its fellow Heartless. When one of the Soldiers attempted to attack her, Fusa slid forward with a Thrust of her Keyblade and then took one step forward with a Vertical Slash, the Soldier only slashed at a couple of Shadows twice before being taken down by another Soldier. With the controlled Soldier killed, Fusa's body stopped glowing and she gasped as if she felt pain before readying her Keyblade and fighting again. With Vincent, on the other hand, he continued to swiftly fire his revolver at the Heartless coming after him and quickly reloading with new rounds in the middle of his own combat prowess.

As the party fought off some more of the Heartless—Vincent using his revolver to fire at them with thrice the amount of quick precision, Fusa with her Keyblade and enough strength to continue on, and Max with his Skateboard Shield—they quickly stopped when they noticed that the Heartless became attracted by flashes of light and teleported to go over to where it was at. Then they noticed the quick flashes of light and turned their heads to see them with the best that they could. Far ahead where the Gorge was located at were dark clouds forming into a tunnel of flashing light that Fusa saw with astonishment; then she remembered what Cid said about clouds "forming onto the ground" earlier today and found recognition in what she saw before her eyes.

But when Meow Wow took notice of the dark cloud tunnel as it was flashing multiple colors of light, it became instantly attracted to it and began to bolt over to it, squeaking with mews and whimpers in the meantime. Fusa heard this and looked to see Meow Wow bounding away, suddenly becoming panicked and worried as to what would happen.

"Meow Wow, wait! Come back!" She cried out as she ran after the Dream Eater Spirit and Max and Gus saw this as well before going after her as well, not knowing what would happen to her. In her sprint after Meow Wow, she remained focused on getting the Dream Eater back despite not knowing what to expect.

Just as the small group of Heartless left to go after the tunnel of bright lights underneath the dark clouds, Vincent noticed the moment Max ran off and Gus floated besides him that he quickly put himself on guard for what was going on. He was quick to think about going after the small group to get them out of the Gorge as soon as possible and take them back to the hut with the other members as assured to them. However, if the tunnel contained an enemy and he revealed himself with the enemy in sight, then there was no doubt that he would put Fusa and her friends at risk of getting killed. After much hesitation, he clenched his right fist with frustration and placed Cerberus back into its holster before quickly leaving the area to alert Leon back at the hut.

* * *

Down in the Gorge, the dark cloud tunnel slowly vanished and stopped flashing multiple lights, but what was left behind was a figure surrounded by eager Heartless waiting for him to move as he stood on top of a rune pattern burned on the ground. The figure appeared to be a man in a red cape, but he was adorned with silver mail that covered his arms, a pair of silver arm bracers with matching red wristbands underneath them, and a blue tunic with red piping. In his right hand was a hammer of metal held by a handle wrapped in leather with a leather handle wrapped around his wrist as he held it. The man himself had neck-length blond hair, blue eyes, and facial hair growing on his cheeks and chin.

The Heartless that surrounded him were mindlessly eager to have his Heart and make him their own, but were also curious as to why he didn't feel like any other mortal that they have made into Heartless as well. That's when the man, keeping his eyes on the creatures, made the first move with a small grin, spinning his hammer quickly. The first Heartless noticed this and began to pounce at him, but sparks of lightning emitted out of the hammer as the figure swung at them at a great force, destroying each of them upon impact.

Fusa noticed that Meow Wow was close to the surrounding Heartless and where the mysterious figure was at and ran faster, taking leaps down each level of rock to the Gorge as Max and Gus stopped momentarily to notice this. They both noticed the man with the hammer in his hand taking on the Heartless on his own, but then knew that he could be an enemy as well. So they went after Fusa to make sure that she doesn't get injured by the person no matter what.

Just as Meow Wow became close to the figure, Fusa quickly caught on that he was wielding a hammer and slid to shield the Dream Eater with her Keyblade hoisted up in front of her and her left hand close to its teeth. This caused the hammer to strike down on the Keyblade with a powerful momentum, nearly bringing Fusa down to the cracked ground. The man's grin faded as he took a few steps back from her, having noticed her own weapon and her presence. She looked up and brought her attention over to the unharmed Dream Eater, which was bouncing with excitement. Then she brought her Keyblade down and picked up Meow Wow in her hands.

"Oh thank goodness you're all right…" Fusa quietly spoke as she held Meow Wow in her arms in relief and petting its back, hearing it purr contently. Max hurried over to her and patted her shoulder with relief that neither she nor the Dream Eater were injured.

"What brought you here, young one? I shall handle the creatures before they can harm anyone outside of the battlefield," the man spoke to her as she brought her attention up and then stood up, holding Meow Wow in her arms, "Leave immediately and find someplace safe for yourself and your companions. This is far too dangerous for any mortal to be here."

When Fusa was about to speak, however, multiple Heartless began appearing from nowhere and surrounding the group. She put Meow Wow down carefully and picked her Keyblade up back into her hand again as Max grabbed his Skateboard Shield from his back and held it in front of him. The figure noticed the Heartless and prepared his hammer with his feet firmly on the ground. Among the Heartless, besides the Shadows and Soldiers, were small icy blue Heartless with nubby tusks and spherical horns on their foreheads, light yellow eyes, unsharpened toes, and the Heartless emblem on their chests. Fusa was confused by the appearance of this particular Heartless before bringing her Keyblade up in defense in case they were to attack. The moment that the Shadows made their move by pouncing on them, the caped man made a one-handed swing of his hammer with electrical currents crackling out of it and electrocuting them, much to Fusa's awe as she made her move.

"Gus, any idea what these ones are?" Max inquired to the Gremlin once Gus joined him behind the limited comfort of the young Knight's Skateboard Shield.

"The best I can say is that these are Behemoth Runts," Gus answered as he quickly wrote down as best as he could about the new Heartless, "And they would have been much more adorable if they weren't trying to kill us, lad."

"We can handle this just fine," Max only responded with confidence before quickly moving his hand to move his goggles so that they would cover his eyes and using the Skateboard Shield to throw it like a boomerang. The Shield was able to hit multiple Heartless at a distance before returning to Max, allowing him to catch it at the right time with Gus fighting them with his wrench.

As the fight continued, Fusa struck a few Shadows and a couple of Soldiers before noticing a couple of Shadows pouncing on top of the caped man and then dashing over to him, making a Sliding Dash with the Thrust of her Keyblade, vanquishing the two Shadows off of his back. The warrior was about to look over at her in thanks, but Fusa had already turned away from him to focus on fighting herself. He then shrugged it off before turning his head to a couple of Runts pouncing at him for an attack from where the Shadows have failed to accomplish. The caped man prepared himself by making a hard horizontal swing of his hammer and striking one of them, causing it to fade into the Darkness, before swinging the hammer again to strike the other Runt as well. As soon as he struck the Runt and killing it as well, he looked ahead to see a small horde of Runts and Shadows charging at him in response to his actions towards the creatures. The figure only chuckled in amusement before twirling his hammer fast by its leather handle and then bringing it down to the ground, causing pieces of hard ground to fly forward to the creatures, hitting them and injuring them at a time.

During the fight, Fusa's body gave off the subtle pink glow again, but just as she was about to bring her direction over to one of the Runts, one of the Shadows pounced on her and disrupted her track of thought with a scratch on her shoulder as it fell to the ground, causing the glow to fade away. She came to the realization that there were too many Heartless to actually use her powers if she can't concentrate properly, so it means that she might have to wait for the opportunity to try again. Then she remembered that she can still use physical attacks as she brought her Keyblade up again. This time, Fusa made a combo of Vertical and Horizontal Slashes before sliding one foot forward and making a couple of rotating Horizontal Slashes along with using Guard. When one of the Runts, this one being closer to green than blue, went after her, Meow Wow noticed this and rushed over to her side, pointing its magenta horn in defense despite not knowing how to fight. The green-blue Runt then skidded to a halt upon seeing this and teleported out of sight in a panic. Fusa quickly turned her head to see the Dream Eater by her side, to which Meow Wow looked up at her with eagerness and she gave it a nod before continuing to fight hard with the Keyblade in her hand.

When most of the group were becoming exhausted, even with collecting Health Orbs to heal themselves of almost all of their wounds and Fusa collecting Heart Orbs to boost her powers up again, they found themselves surrounded by more Heartless appearing with Shadows and Soldiers outnumbering the Runts. Only the figure in the red cape was seemingly unaffected by exhaustion, though he was notably discontented with what he has gotten so far.

"Is this the best you got?" The caped man bellowed with dissatisfaction of the amount of Heartless that surrounded the group.

"Dude, you do know it's not the bright idea to actually provoke them, right?" Max then asked with a deadpan tone as he held his Skateboard Shield up in defense.

"I expected a challenge, boy," the figure retorted in response with a huff, "And I've fought worse than this."

"Then why aren't they coming at us now?" Fusa finally spoke up with worry as she kept her Keyblade gripped in her hand with sweat coming down the side of her face. The moment she said this, the others saw that the Heartless were not attacking now and this gave them some confusion rather than worry.

It was not long until the remaining Runts took steps away from their opponents and suddenly made their cries of distress, much to the group's confusion before they teleported out of sight. Just then, the ground shook and the closest canyon wall broke down. Fusa nearly lost her balance before keeping her balance with her Keyblade while the caped man kept his ground and Max did the same, though Meow Wow was toppled over by the shaking. The shaking also caused the Shadows and Soldiers that remained to look around in a panic before teleporting out of the area, leaving the group to themselves. It was from the canyon side that the blue-tinted rocks collapsed by a massive, quadrupedal unnatural force of nature, one with a lighter shade of blue tusks with crimson tips and yellow eyes, that pounded its toes towards the group. Dark purple smoke that formed the large beast faded away from its body until it was completely clear as to what the creature was by means of the Heartless emblem on its chest. From the moment the group and the figure saw what it was, the caped man tightened his grip on the handle of the hammer as Fusa brought her Keyblade up again in defense.

"What is this? A Behemoth of Nifilheim?" The man wielding the hammer demanded with a look of determination and saw the Heartless as a challenge, to which he only gave a small grin.

"No, it's a Behemoth _Heartless_ ," Gus then answered with alarm after quickly checking his journal and closing it up, putting it away and taking out a wrench, "And it looks like we were messing with its young!"

With one snort and huff, the Heartless brought its attention to the group and roared at them and prepared itself to fight them off. While the caped man, Max, and Gus were ready to fight it, Fusa grew frightened at the beast as her eyes expressed fear in them. This appearance of the larger Heartless made her very uncertain if she or her friends were going to survive this fight at all.


	16. Chapter 15- Hollow Bastion: Behemoth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the Gorge of Hollow Bastion, Fusa and her party, now joined by a mysterious man with a hammer in his hand, are forced to fight against the Frost Behemoth Heartless. But perhaps the Behemoth is too strong against them...

Vincent arrived at the hut where the Restoration Committee was located and made a knock at the door with his right gloved hand, keeping a cool composure underneath this rare urgency for Leon's assistance. He was originally tasked to be a guide for a Keyblade wielder and her companions in the midst of the Heartless's return; now the Keyblade wielder's run off to catch her pet into the Gorge at the risk of a dark storm forming with lightning striking and flashing bright colors. For now, he had to keep himself calm as he briefly waited for the door to open.

At the door when it opened was only Yuffie instead, much to his hidden disappointment. Looks like he needed to be blunt about it, then.

"Back already, Vinnie?" She asked him teasingly. Then she noticed that he was alone and asked him again with a raised eyebrow, "Hey, where's that kid and the others?"

"I need to see Leon immediately regarding the kid and the others," Vincent only said to her sincerely with a glare from his crimson eyes, "We've got a problem. If he comes by in a few minutes, tell him to meet me by the Gorge." With those words, he soon swiftly left as his red cloak melded with his body and then fluidly moved away from the hut.

* * *

Back at the Gorge, the Behemoth Heartless brought one foot forward dragged its front toes back, leaving behind toe marks on the ground with a glare to Fusa, her friends, and the man in the red cape and silver chainmail holding the hammer. The young Newborn Nobody, on the other hand, began to have doubts about her ability to fight and began to shake a bit with nervousness, her eyes focused only on the Heartless itself. She wasn't sure if she was fit to continue onto the journey and protect her friends if she was to face off larger opponents like the Behemoth. Then her doubts were comforted by her previous fights with the Large Bodies and the battle against the Red Armor, to which she then inhaled and tightly gripped on the Keyblade handle.

When the tension reached its peak, the Behemoth then briefly pulled back and suddenly charged towards the group. This made Fusa frightened even more and she could only give a whimper of fear as the Heartless grew closer to them. Just as it was about to strike at her and her friends, however, her body glowed again; this time, her concerns for her friends' well-being caused not only Max and Gus's hearts to glow in an outline, but also the caped man's heart as well, and controlled them to move out of the way in an instant as soon as Fusa rushed to the other side. This made the Behemoth to run into the nearest canyon wall and create a rock collapse from the impact. Once Fusa was back on her feet again, the caped figure readied his hammer and looked over at her and her friends with a look of determination. Max, on the other hand, shook off the control over his heart as he tightly held his Skateboard Shield in his hands while Gus took his wrench out to fight as well.

"Hey, Gus? If I don't make it from this fight and you find my dad, then please tell him that I love him," Max then quietly requested to Gus with a look of worry.

"I promise, lad," the Gremlin then responded to him with a nod to him before the two soon heard a crumbling sound from the canyon wall.

From the canyon wall, the Behemoth Heartless writhed its way out and shook its head as it backed up before stomping its foot towards the group. It then began to generate a blue ball of energy from the tip of its horn, raise it to the air, and separate it into pillars of freezing energy; Gus took notice of the pillars of energy and put his wrench away momentarily to jot down this observation in his journal. The caped figure, on the other hand, saw this as an addition to the challenge before swinging his hammer towards it and then throwing it at the icy Heartless's face first, hitting it once. With his hand open, the hammer was beckoned back to the man, causing the creature to shake its head to ignore what has happened.

"This is no ordinary Behemoth—it's a Frost Behemoth, one capable of Blizzard magic unlike its fellow electrical cousins," the Gremlin spoke with intrigue, "It's quite the rarity among the Heartless. Now the first thing, Fusa, is to—"

"Gus! Oncoming tusk!" Max alerted to Gus just as the Gremlin put his journal away, but before he could look up and get his wrench out, the Behemoth Heartless slammed Gus to the wall by its tusk, injuring him and rendering him unconscious on impact.

From the hard impact, the Gremlin slid down the canyon wall and then slumped to the ground with only a twitch of movement and nothing more, to which Fusa grew unsure as to what to do next as she turned her head to the Behemoth. She looked over at Gus with confusion and worry for his condition as she tried to figure out what he was going to say. Then she brought her attention to the Behemoth and prepared her Keyblade, though her hand shook a bit with the blade in her grasp. The caped man tightened his grip on the handle of his hammer and clenched his teeth in a small grin to fight the creature.

At the start, the caped man charged after the Heartless as the Behemoth backed up with a snarl, roughly swinging his hammer at the creature. The icy beast roared before thrashing about wildly, hitting the man. He was able to rebound, much to Fusa's relief, but the remaining three had to face the beast and fight it off.

"Pretend it's a Training Dummy, pretend it's a Training Dummy, pretend it's a Training Dummy," Fusa repeated to herself with an exhale and brought her Keyblade up. Max looked over at her with a confused look on his face, but then returned his attention back to the Heartless anyway.

When the Frost Behemoth made a charge at the group, Fusa and Max quickly part from each other for it to hit the nearby wall, though it paused just as it was about run into the canyon wall. The caped man only kept his attention at the creature and paid no mind to the two as he was about to swing the handle of his hammer again until a set of Behemoth Runts reappeared again in front of him. Fusa quickly noticed this and shifted her foot slightly as if she was about to rush over to him. Then she realized that she has to stop the Frost Behemoth first as it was more of a hassle than the Runts. She tightened her grip on the Keyblade handle with a bead of sweat coming down the side of her face before returning her sights back onto the larger Heartless. Max looked over to her when he saw her troubled expression, but Fusa only wordlessly nodded to him that everything would be alright to assure him anyway. In the back of her mind, she would be wrong.

When the time finally came, both Fusa and Max charged after the Heartless with Keyblade and Skateboard Shield in hand, respectively. But just as they were about to reach it, the Frost Behemoth made a great leap to the sky and came back down in another location close to the two, its rough landing quickly sent shockwaves that knocked them off of their feet. Fusa was able to get up to her feet, though she helped Max get back onto his feet as well as she pulled him back up and then readied her Keyblade against the Behemoth. Then they charged at the Frost Behemoth before Max placed his Skateboard Shield on the ground and rode forward with his right foot in front and his left foot pushing on the ground, allowing him to go faster than the Newborn Nobody. Fusa noticed this and ran a little faster with her body glowing light pink again to see its corrupted Heart on the Frost Behemoth; it was from using this that she also saw a purple glow on the horn on the Heartless connected to the outline of the Heart and realized that it is what Gus was trying to tell her when he was knocked unconscious. Now all she needed to do was to get closer to the horn and then she'll use Break on the Heart.

Fusa finally brought her Keyblade up and ran as fast as she could towards the Behemoth, eventually sliding forward towards the Heartless's emblem and ready to thrust the tip of her blade through the emblem. Just as she was about to, however, the Frost Behemoth moved back to see her and pushed its head forward recklessly towards her, forcing Fusa to quickly back up with the Keyblade in her grip and with a panic. Max, on the other hand, had picked up enough speed while on his Skateboard Shield that allowed him to bring the Shield up into the air and aimed at the Behemoth's head as soon as he landed on the ground. The Skateboard suddenly hit the Heartless in the back of its head and the creature snorted as it shook its head, though it noticed the young Knight rushing to get his shield again.

Just as Max was about to bring his shield up once more after grabbing it, the Frost Behemoth roared in retaliation, charged up a blue Energy Ball, and fired it at him. It struck him and knocked him to the ground close to the wall with a light blue coloring on his body that caused him to shake. Fusa became horrified from the impact hitting Max, but she noticed the Heartless charging towards him for the final blow and quickly took off to his side where she stood in front of the creature. Then she aimed the tip of her Keyblade with both hands gripping tightly on the hand and waited to fire at the Behemoth as sweat came down her brow in frightened anticipation. She tried to bring forth energy to gather at the tip, but as the Heartless came closer, her eyes widened in panic and her hands began to shake, causing the gathering energy to fade from her alarm.

Then Fusa readied her Keyblade with both hands and swung it as hard as she could when it got close to her, striking it by its jaw and its tusk, leaving a gash on it and causing it to snarl and stagger back with a groan. Her eyes were wide with what she did as she brought her attention to the teeth of her Keyblade and then back to the Frost Behemoth with a rising fear of what it will do next.

"Oh no…" she finally groaned in fear to herself with a whimper before taking steps back from the Heartless.

When the young Newborn Nobody took steps back from it, the Frost Behemoth began charging towards Fusa, knocking her aside with its horn and sending her to the ground painfully as well as forcing her to release the Keyblade from her grasp. The impact onto the hard ground only gave her some scrapes on her arms and one on her right cheek, but she knew that she had to fight it. She was able to get up, albeit shakily, and rush over to get her Keyblade until the Behemoth charged at her again when it saw what she was going to do. This time, it snorted and head-butted her with its horn, gashing her and then knocking her to the ground multiple times each opportunity it had to head-butt her again. Then it roughly lifted her up by the mouth and violently thrashed her around like a ragdoll before tossing her to the dirt again. It was from the Behemoth's rough actions that Fusa's bruises and scrapes gradually grew to become cuts and gashes on her body with a bleeding wound coming down her face along with a bleeding lip and nose. She then hissed with her teeth clenched from the stinging pain as she felt dirt on her wounds before looking over at her Keyblade, which was a further distance from her than before, and then rolling over to get up back onto her feet again. But just as she was about to stand straight up, the Frost Behemoth charged at her once more; this time, it used its left tusk to hold her right arm and ran it onto the edge of a large, sharp boulder, snapping it backwards. The immense amount of pain Fusa felt from that moment caused her to cry out before the Heartless lobbed her to a cluster of smaller rocks.

Fusa could only lay on the rocks, breathing hard with diminishing strength and great agony, as the Behemoth Heartless charged after her to finish her off; before it could crush her, however, a hammer knocked it away from her and then returning back to the caped man's hand. He soon prepared himself for the beast to come after him now in order to lure it away from the young girl and her injured companions. The Frost Behemoth only growled as it returned to its feet and went after him in a rage, but the red caped figure was ready to strike it. He grinned again when it charged at him.

Meow Wow, which was the only one not to be injured by the Behemoth, rushed over to Fusa as she wheezed weakly and began to gently lick her face in comfort, minding the blood. She felt the Dream Eater's tongue on her cheek and she soon stirred and looked straight up at the dusk sky. The pain in her right arm caused her to shake and her wounds stung from the dirt and sweat on them.

"N-no…" she quietly spoke before rolling over and hissing sharply in pain from moving her right arm. "My friends need me… I can't let them down…"

The best decision, Fusa realized to herself, was to use her left arm instead of the right to bring herself up so that she could get her Keyblade. She breathed hard as she slowly slid her left arm up and recoiled it to her while sliding her knees forward. Although her left arm shook from the amount of pain she has, Fusa hoisted herself back up and looked ahead to see with a hazy vision the figure fighting off the Heartless before turning her head to her Keyblade. She didn't want to run, as it would sap the last of her strength and bring more discontent to her broken arm, but she clenched her left hand into a fist and then hurried to her Keyblade to pick it up. Once the Keyblade was back in her grasp, Fusa then held the handle in her left hand and turned her head to the fight going on ahead, to which she then made her first few steps forward, inhaling as much air as she can before exhaling slowly. She dragged the tip of the Keyblade on the ground before stopping and then bringing it up to the Behemoth.

"My friends need me," she spoke to herself again as she shook with soreness and her body began to glow pink again, but this time it was stronger than before. "I can't give up now…" She inhaled sharply as the glow grew brighter when she closed her eyes in concentration and soon transferred to her Keyblade.

From the distance, the caped figure briefly stopped to see this happen with a bewildered awe until he noticed the Frost Behemoth took noticed of this as well and then charged at her again. It roared at her ferociously at it went after her at full speed; Fusa heard this and opened her eyes before focusing on the Behemoth as her eyes glowed to see the outline of a Heart on the Heartless. Then she aimed her Keyblade at it as the glow collected at the tip and fired in a thin beam of pink light that struck the Frost Behemoth's horn, causing it to bellow in agony. Once the beam of light faded from her Keyblade, Fusa brought the tip firmly to the ground to avoid falling to her knees before bringing her head up again to see the Heartless getting up as well. She tightly gripped the handle of "Gentle Heart" and lifted her Keyblade up again to fight it.

"I won't give up now," Fusa finally said with an exhausted look of determination.

The Frost Behemoth then roared again before charging at her with a Ram Charge and pointing its horn at her to strike her, but Fusa saw a gap underneath it and rushed over to it as fast as she can, sliding forward on her front lower thighs and under the beast. The Heartless stopped as soon as it passed over her and looked around in confusion as to where she would be at. Fusa, on the other hand, quickly turned around as best as she could and rushed over to the Behemoth again. Her ankles trembled as she ran, ready to give out, but she kept going at her speed with the Keyblade in her hand. She finally readied her Keyblade again as her body glowed once, allowing to see the outline of the Behemoth's Heart and its weak spot again. When she got closer, however, her eyes glowed with her body this time with her sight focused on the beast with a glow surrounding it. This gave restraint on the Heartless as it struggled to move within the glow, growling and roaring as loud as it could.

Fusa ran up the Frost Behemoth's back with heavy sweat and exhaustion that nearly caused her body to topple over, but she kept running up the right hind leg of the Heartless and then proceeded to the back of its head, where she brought the Keyblade down on the base of the horn. The moment the Behemoth felt a sharp tip pierce by its horn, it roared louder than before and struggled to move. It was not long before the glow around her eyes and body began to wane, growing weaker by the moment as Fusa pulled the tip out as hard as she could. Then the glow faded again, causing the beast to thrash about, though it was getting worn down. Fusa noticed this and got off of the Heartless before landing on the ground again and almost falling onto her knees as she hunched forward, breathing hard. But she pushed herself to stand straight up and bring her attention back to the Frost Behemoth as it tried to attack with a nearly dislocated horn. The caped man hurried to her side and readied his hammer when he noticed that the creature was weak enough to defeat it. His eyebrows were furrowed when he noticed that the young one was mortally wounded, but he also noticed her look of determination to succeed as well. Without a word, he then brought his attention back to the Heartless with her.

Finally, both Fusa and the caped figure charged at the Heartless once more with weapons in hand with the young Newborn Nobody's eyes glowing again while the man taking the horn. As they drew closer to the Heartless, the Frost Behemoth attempted to do another Ice Charge at them, but it only backfired, hitting it instead. This gave the red-caped man the opportunity to swing his hammer at the Heartless and then throw it at its horn, knocking it right off and onto the ground. Fusa, on the other hand, noticed that the outline of the Heart was shattered, made a weak jump at the Heartless, and then her Keyblade up through the Behemoth's emblem to Break, making a shatter sound as it happened. From this, the creature was unresponsive and increasingly lifeless just as Fusa pulled her Keyblade out with as much strength as she had left from the fight and took a few steps back.

From the Newborn Nobody's strike through the Frost Behemoth, the Heartless collapsed and faded into Darkness with a large Heart floating up into the air and vanishing out of sight. Fusa breathed heavily out of exhaustion and the wounds overwhelmed her, but she kept herself on her feet with her left hand grasping the handle of her Keyblade. The caped man was less worn down than her, but he brought his attention to her and then approached her.

"You risked your life to continue fighting," he said to her with respect to her and he brought his hand on her shoulder, "I admire your willpower to protect your friends. Your wounds are, nevertheless, too great from your bout with the beast. Come, I'll bring you to my realm so they can be tended properly."

The moment she heard him say this, she lifted her head up weakly before her Keyblade vanished and causing her to fall forward to the ground when her knees could not support her; the caped man was able to catch her and hold her in his left arm with the side of her head resting on his armor. She couldn't let herself rest, to which she winced from her injuries and looked up at him with an exhausted look in her eyes and with the thought of her friends' condition at heart.

"Help… my friends…" she wheezed in enervation as he heard her with a sincere look of concern before hearing pup-like whimpering and seeing the Dream Eater Spirit carrying Max by the collar with Gus on its back so he wouldn't fall off. The caped figure gave a nod to Meow Wow before looking up to the dark clouds overhead of them and waited a bit. He gave a grin when he knew what lies above, though the Dream Eater had gone up to its hind legs to look up, only to fall on its back and roll over onto its feet again.

"Rest well, young one," he advised to Fusa as she shifted between passing out from exhaustion and keeping herself awake in his arm while he carefully picked Max up and held him by his other side under his arm. "You've fought valiantly." When the clouds gathered solely above the circular runic gate, the man looked up to the skies and bellowed out as loud and clear as he could, "Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!"

Just then, a beam of bright lights of multiple colors descended from above and suddenly jolted the group upward into the cloudy wormhole. This caused Fusa to pass out from exhaustion when she couldn't keep herself awake anymore, though the figure kept his attention to what's ahead above and Meow Wow took a tight grip of Gus's scarf so that he wouldn't float off and out of the wormhole itself. Out in the distance as the brightly flashing wormhole took the caped figure, Fusa, and her companions out of sight, Leon and Vincent observed at a safe distance. They had watched what was going on in the Gorge as soon as they arrived, but they didn't want to endanger Fusa or her friends with their presence. The two soon observed the wormhole becoming undone and returning to the skies where the clouds then lightened up and dissolved into thin air again.

"Now we know that whatever is landing in the Gorge is friendly," Vincent stoically spoke from observation with his arms crossed in front of him, "At least there's a mark for proof."

"We'll let the others know about the mark on the ground; The next thing we could do is to find a way to make contact with his world's leader and have some sort of meeting with them," Leon added in thought after taking into consideration of the wormhole. "Yet how do we really know if the figure wielding that hammer be as friendly as he was towards the group?" He soon inquired out of pondering thoughts.

"He would have given them a mercy killing," The enigmatic man grimly responded after some time to think and turned away to leave the area for now.

Leon remained standing where he was as he thought about Vincent's words and grew skeptic about whether or not the Committee should truly trust this figure wielding the hammer. He only sighed to himself before turning his head a bit to see Vincent being further away and then began to walk away from the area himself to join him back to the Committee.

"You heading back to the castle?" He then asked the caped man as Vincent made his way to a different path away from the hut.

"Only for a while," Vincent briefly answered before continuing on his way to the castle, "One of them mentioned about an arcade coming to life. I better look into it."

Leon could only take pause for a moment and then bring his attention to the sky above him, perhaps wondering what could be there that the Committee might not be seeing at all. The only thing he could do now was to wish the best of luck to Fusa and her company as they were going to need it.

* * *

In another world, the wormhole arrived to a circular building where at the heart of the hall was a golden armored man with golden wise eyes and a long-bladed sword in his grasp, for he observed figures appearing into the building in a quick speed of light. Based on what he noticed from the unconscious figures in his grip, the warrior had returned with new company.

"Welcome home, my lord," the gatekeeper spoke with reverence to the warrior as sentries hurried to retrieve the unconscious figures from under the prince's arm and held them so they would wait for his order. "You've taken much longer this time in the Midgardian realm. Your father and your friends has been waiting for your return with thinning patience."

"Let them know that I have returned from the other realm, Heimdall," the warrior prince responded as the gatekeeper, Heimdall, took notice of the injured young girl as well as a strange cat-like creature with mannerisms of a pup, "There is one thing I must do first." Then he turned to another sentry and commanded to him, "Contact the physicians and summon the skiff. Take these three to the healing rooms, for they are in critical condition. And bring me my horse so I would join them."

Heimdall brought his attention to the slumped platinum blonde in the warrior's arm and became rather puzzled about her presence and appearance. He would have brushed this off and made the conclusion that she was a human, but he couldn't tell if she was or not. This fact made him rather intrigued even more. Then he returned his attention to the warrior prince with glistening golden eyes without a word to say as a hovercraft in the shape of the skiff was brought over to the bridge and boarded with the new visitors and the sentries. Only the cat-like creature was left behind as it tried to jump into the skiff, but didn't get the chance when the skiff quickly left. The warrior took notice of the creature as it brought its attention to him and looked up at him, soon giving it a small smile.

It was then that a third sentry arrived with the warrior's steed of white hair and coat with a set of small silver wings on its bridle and brought it to its rider. The caped warrior then brought his attention up to see them and mounted on the saddle of his ride before looking down at the small creature again. The colorful thing, as curious as it was, tried to jumped onto the saddle to join him, but couldn't reach it; then the sentry noticed the creature and cautiously picked it up to find it wiggling a bit before he looked at the prince again. The caped prince gave a nod to the sentry to bring it over to him, where the sentry then brought the cat-like creature and placed it on the saddle with him.

"I will require your assistance, strange one," the warrior addressed to the creature as it looked up at him rather innocently with a purr, "There might be some use of you yet."

With a crack of the reins, the caped man then rode off towards the golden palace ahead on the prismatic bridge with the creature in front and the handle of his hammer gripped in his right hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladies and gentlemen, it's official: the story will have Asgard as one of the new worlds that will appear in this. As for the "arcade" that Vincent mentions, well, that's something that you all will have to figure out for yourselves.


	17. Chapter 16- Asgard: Warrior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now in a new world, Fusa regains consciousness and meets up with not only her recovered friends but also the mysterious warrior that brought them there. All she needs to do now is prepare for training in the Training Grounds...

The first thing that came to her mind was a sky with thin pink and purple clouds and a stone wall with an unusual dark blue shade. She tried to bring her attention over to examine the wall, but no such luck. Then the sight moved from the sky with the wall at the corner of her eye to the side where she saw a golden orange flower with a bright yellow center. This fixation on the flower itself was strange yet soothing to see for all of its oddness in its design. Just as she could have a chance to reach out and touch it, she then began to drift off to sleep and finally blacked out with the sight of the flower fading away.

" _So many colors, but what does it all mean?"_

* * *

Fusa began to regain consciousness with a blurry vision looking straight up at a golden spherical ceiling that was filtered with orange particles above her. She blinked a few times before her vision began to clear up and then allowed her to see the ceiling and particles. The first thing that Fusa noticed would be that of the feeling in her right arm. She realized that it was no longer painful and was instead covered by a red cloth where it was agonizing the most. Much to her surprise, the arm itself was perfectly in place with nothing out of place or even disconnected even when she slowly removed the cloth and extended her fingers in examination. Then Fusa looked down to see what looked like fur draped over her body with her arms exposed as the exception. Finally, she looked around the bed a bit to find that it was surrounded by gold and that it was generating the orange particles above her.

As she was looking, however, Fusa heard a small whimpering and noticed Meow Wow bounding over to her where it nuzzled its cheek on hers with a purr and licked her face a bit to greet her. She couldn't help herself but smile brightly from this and pet its back to give it some affection in return. As this happened, however, Fusa slowly frowned when she realized that she didn't notice Max or Gus in the room and quickly sat up on the bed before removing the fur off of her and getting out of the bed. What she did not expect, of course, was that her balance on her feet would be less than perfect with her knees shaking a bit and that she nearly fell from the off-kilter balance. Luckily, she barely caught herself before she could fall as Meow Wow jumped off of the bed to join her, bouncing when it landed on the floor.

"Wasn't expecting that…" Fusa said to Meow Wow as she looked at it before moving to find her backpack, or at least if it was here as well.

"You have awakened," a woman's voice spoke to Fusa in a calm and non-threatening tone as she stopped and looked over to see an older woman in a blue tunic and a lighter blue apron. "Good. It was expected by the prince when he brought you and your companions to ensure that you would recover smoothly."

"What happened to my friends? Who are you? And how did you know what I was saying?" Fusa asked the woman with concern for Max and Gus's well-being.

"You seem to ask quite a lot, my child," the woman answered before bringing her hands together in front of her, "But I suppose I can answer them. My name is Eir of Asgard, your assigned healer, and the reason why I can understand what you said is simple— _I_ can understand what _you_ are saying due to the All-Tongue, a language that we Asgardians understand the most. As for your friends, worry not; they have recovered as well and are waiting for you to join them again. I will bring you to them." After Eir said this, she brought the young Newborn Nobody's backpack up by its handle and offered it to her, much to her stunned surprise.

Fusa accepted her backpack and put it on before giving Eir a nod in thanks before going over to the double doors to join her.

"I must advise you, child, there are Einherjar outside the rooms," the physician warned in a hushed tone Fusa as Meow Wow bounded over to her side, "Going to where your friends are by yourself has risks, so at this point, do not wander off when we go out this room."

Knowing that this was no doubt a new world and an unfamiliar one at that, Fusa quickly nodded to show that she understood the physician's words as Meow Wow looked up between Eir and the young Newborn Nobody out of curiosity. Then the physician moved to open one of the doors and exit swiftly, indicating to the Keyblade wielder to accompany her immediately. Fusa first watched her for an example before briefly brushing the bangs that partially covered her left eye and then quickly moved out of the room with Meow Wow following behind. Eir brought her attention over to the young girl to see that she had caught up to the physician before beginning to walk down the long and golden hallway with the Newborn Nobody and Meow Wow following suit.

"Can I ask what this place is?" Fusa asked out of awe as she looked around the hallway with her hands gripping on the backpack straps.

"This is the royal palace of Asgard, home to Odin All-Father, our king and ruler of this realm, and his family," Eir answered without hesitation. "For many years, this has been the heart of Asgard and the heart of the Nine Realms. Recently, Lord All-Father has made it forbidden for both Asgardians and warriors alike to travel to 'infected' worlds with creatures forming from Darkness."

"Heartless?" Fusa piped up when she heard the physician and brought her attention straight forward in a bit of alarm.

"Oh, so that's what they're called?" Eir responded with intrigue before they arrived at another set of doors down the hallway where a pair of guards waited outside. Then she ordered them in a calm tone, "Bring the other two guests out; their companion is here for them."

The guards looked at Fusa, who gave them an awkward wave as she was hesitant to say anything to them, before giving a nod to Eir and opening the doors back to reveal another physician much like Eir except younger examining Max and Gus. Once the doors were open, Fusa quickly grew overjoyed the moment she saw them conscious and healed up before dashing forward to them and wrapping her arms around Max first in a big hug. The young Knight was startled at first when he felt something nearly bring him down to the floor until he noticed it was Fusa and smiled before returning the hug in return.

"Thought we were goners, Fusa?" Max asked Fusa with a chuckle as she carefully released him and looked over at Gus with her overjoyed expression turning into relief when she realized that they were still here.

"You guys are alright," she only responded with a sigh and brought her hand to Gus, to which he held it with both hands and allowed her to gently wrap her fingers around his arm. "I didn't know if you would make it as well…"

"Do not worry about us, dear," the Gremlin assure to her with a smile, "Our lovely physician already explained to us about what happened to you and what the others called 'special treatment'—the prince of this world himself helped out with that hammer of his."

When she heard this, Fusa looked over at her right arm with astonishment before recalling of the man in the red cape back in Hollow Bastion wielding the hammer in his hand and fighting the Frost Behemoth Heartless as well. However, the thought of the Behemoth snapping the middle of her right arm back caused her to pull her hand back with an uncomfortable shake of her head and carefully clutch her arm with her left hand. Although Max and Gus were confused to see this, they went over to her sides with the hope to comfort her nevertheless; Fusa took notice of this as she then looked over at them and gave them a small smile. Then they began to make their way out with Meow Wow joining them and remaining by the Newborn Nobody's side under the floating Gus.

"Well, if what you say is true, Gus," Fusa began to respond when she caught on as to what Gus said to her as she looked over at him and Max looked over at the two, "Then that means that—"

"That I kept my word and steered you and your company away from entering into Valhalla," a familiar voice spoke up as Fusa, Max, and Gus looked over to see the red-caped man, this time lacking the hammer, approaching the group with a grin. He looked over to Eir and gave her a nod of his head to relieve her of her duty, allowing her to leave the group in the meantime.

"Ah, we wish to thank you, Your Majesty," Gus thanked him with a low bow while he was still floating as Fusa and Max looked over at him momentarily, though he floated in front of them to handle the talking for the other two.

"There is no need for that; after all, you are guests here under my protection," the prince responded before introducing himself with pride, "I am Thor Odinson of Asgard, wielder of Mjolnir, controller of storms and wind, and heir to the realm's throne."

Fusa's dark eyebrows rose with astonishment the moment that she and her companions heard this. Gus was also surprised by this, but chose to remain civil as best as he could.

"An honour to make acquaintance with you," the Gremlin replied to him with his hands on his hips in confidence, "I am Gremlin Gus, representative of the Gremlins and Gummi Ship pilot." Then he gestured to Max first, adding as the young Knight gave Thor a respectful bow, "This is Sir Maximillian Goof of the Royal Guard, though he prefers to go by just 'Max' instead." Finally, he gestured to Fusa and concluded as she gave Thor a small bow of uneasiness and blushed a bit sheepishly, "And this young one is Keyblade wielder Fusa, though you've probably witnessed her skills back in Hollow Bastion."

"I have grown familiar with what the young one did on the Midgardian piece you call 'Hollow Bastion'," Thor clarified as he nodded with intrigue and Fusa's blush faded when she heard him, "No doubt that there is strength, but there is inexperience as well. That is why I have decided to give her some training from companions of my own."

"Companions? You mean like some of your other buddies?" Max asked with bewilderment, though Fusa remained unsure.

"I suppose so," the prince answered the young Knight with a chuckle. Then he frowned a bit and looked around the hallway a bit as if he noticed something that would be watching them all. "Come this way. It's best if we leave this area immediately and head to the Training Grounds to get started." Then he turned and made his exit from the hallway with Fusa, Max, Gus, and Meow Wow following suit.

In their leave, however, the young Newborn Nobody noticed a scroll on the ground and scurried over to it momentarily to pick it up. Once she was able to get the scroll off of the floor, Fusa returned to catch up to the others and resumed walking alongside of Max and Meow Wow with Gus floating beside them. She held the scroll in her hands before putting it away into her backpack to examine it later, though the young Knight and the Gremlin looked over at it with curiosity. Fusa quickly noticed this as she put her backpack on and gave them a small smile in assurance as they continued to walk.

"So this place is, like, the real deal? I thought it only existed in mythology," Max began to speak as Fusa looked around the group's surroundings in awe of the great details put into work, "And the last thing I can remember about you, man, is that you're the God of Thunder."

"You are a sharp mind, Sir Max, I will give you that," Thor answered to the young Knight with an amused grin, "But many years before, Midgardians used to believe us 'gods' to truly exist and pray for a bountiful harvest, good health, and much more. Over time, we were relegated to being myths of ancient past but never truly forgotten. Even then, some details are changed as they never happened or have yet to exist."

Fusa brought her attention over to her companions and the warrior prince again when she heard this, though she didn't say anything. As they walked, however, she saw a small Treasure Chest by the golden wall and paused when she noticed that it was wooden and covered in runes with silver rims and a keyhole shape on the top of the Chest and walked over to it. Her Keyblade appeared in her right hand as she approached it before unlocking and then opening it. Within the Chest was a Potion, to which she placed her Keyblade down, removed her backpack, and finally take the Potion out of the Chest and into the backpack. As she did this, Meow Wow bounded over to her and whimpered a bit, nuzzling its cheek on her lower thigh and getting her attention with some form of success when Fusa took notice of this. She gave it a few pets on its back before her Keyblade vanished and then moved to stand up, taking her backpack with her and putting it back on.

As she did this, however, Fusa noticed that Max and Gus were gone and quickly dashed away from the open Treasure Chest to catch up to them wherever they were with Meow Wow following suit.

* * *

After a bit of time had passed, Fusa saw that her companions were still following Thor and picked up her pace to catch up. She joined her companions once she did, though Gus was the only one that noticed her returning presence. He also saw Meow Wow bounding by her side when it caught up with the others as well and back to Fusa again.

"Exciting, isn't it?" Gus whispered to the young Newborn Nobody and Max to engage in a conversation in the meantime. "A new World, some new faces, and even a new experience to remember fondly of! Max, you can tell tales of this to your fellow Royal Guards and your father when we find him and return home—or at least if we do. Speaking of which, I better write this in my journal." Then he took his journal out and began to quickly jot down information with excitement before putting it away for later.

"Highly doubt that anyone is going to believe me if I told them, Gus," Max responded in a mutter with a roll of his eyes.

"Nonsense, lad," the Gremlin added with a chuckle, "You have me and Fusa as witnesses to confirm them to be true."

The moment that Fusa heard this as she was letting her eyes wander, she snapped back to reality and looked over at both Max and Gus with absent-mindedness. She didn't say anything in the moment before bringing her attention back to the hallway as they continued to walk behind the Asgardian prince.

"I don't want to forget this place, yeah," Fusa mused as she looked around for a moment before realizing something, "Then again, if I could remember everything else, perhaps I wouldn't have to forget, either."

"What do you mean?" Max finally asked as he and Gus looked over at her.

"Well, I… it's difficult to explain," she answered quietly and hesitantly with a small stutter as she broke eye contact from them and twirled her index finger around her ahoge, trying to think of a way to explain to them. "Do either of you know what a 'Nobody' is?"

The two looked at each other for a moment before returning their attention back to Fusa with a unison nod. But just when she was going to explain to them, she stopped when she noticed that Thor had stopped in front of a pair of doors guarded by two guards. It was then that she extended her arms out to the sides to stop them a bit, though both Max and Gus were confused at first from when she did this. Then they brought their attentions over in front of them and Max took a couple of steps back to avoid stepping on the prince's cape as Gus floated backwards synced to the young Knight's movement. Only Fusa remained where she was; the only thing that she wanted to explain to her new companions as to what she was, though she dreaded as to what they would say. Then the small group watched as the Einherjar noticed the prince's presence, they bowed their heads to him in respect as he gave them a nod in return and a grin of pride.

"I have brought our new guests here so they would meet my own companions here," Thor explained to the guards as they brought their heads back up to see the young Newborn Nobody and her own friends. "If you please, then open the doors and grant us access inside."

The sentries were confused at first, but then nodded with obedience and opened the doors before them, allowing Thor to enter inside first with Fusa, her friends, and Meow Wow to follow behind. As the group passed by them, however, one of the sentries watched them without a word to say before he and the other sentry slowly closed the door behind the guests with a low "thud", though Fusa was the only one to notice this when she heard this and stopped for a moment. Then she brought her attention forward again and quickly picked up her pace to catch up again, though it was brief as she returned to them.

Inside was a group of warriors sparring with each other grasping different weapons and wearing armor as well as animate ragdoll dummies fueled by some form of power making them move unnaturally. Among the group is a woman with long dark hair tied in a ponytail combating with one of the warriors and occasionally knocking him off his feet multiple times with a sword in her grasp, a dashing blond man wielding a foil as he was fighting a hefty older man with a red beard and a double-bladed axe and another warrior with a grim expression and a metal mace, and a dark-haired young man with green eyes using a green glow firing out of his hands to fight against the moving ragdolls. But when the group entered into the room, however, everything slowly grinded to a halt as the warriors stopped sparring with the ragdolls collapsed to the ground lifelessly and then brought their attention to Thor and the group behind him. Then the dark-haired woman, the trio of warriors, and the green-eyed young man stepped forward first towards them.

"Thor, you've returned much earlier than last time," the dashing fellow greeted to Thor with a grin, "I take it you have finally grown bored of the Midgardian piece?"

"But look, Fandral, he's not alone," the husky warrior with the red beard pointed out with a chortle, "He's brought company along with him!"

"The All-Father will not be pleased to hear this when he finds out," the final of the trio added grimly as he examined the outsiders' appearances.

"Speak not of these words, my friends, for Father will not know of this," Thor responded to them with an air of confidence before explaining to them as he gestured to Fusa, to which she tensed up nervously, "The young one that you see before you all has an incredible power fit for gods and a strong spirit to match. However, there is still inexperience. I come to you, my friends and my brother, to give the young one the best that this realm has to offer. I have faith in all of you."

As Thor spoke, Max and Gus nudged the tensed Fusa forward for the warriors to see her with excitement, but the young Newborn Nobody remained anxious with her knees locking up and her hands being brought close to her crossed chest belts, and her body shaking a bit. In spite of this, she neither fainted nor run away as she could not bring herself to do the latter and she feared to be reduced to being a laughingstock if she did the former. So she remained where she was, keeping her eyes that were filled with paralyzing fear examining the warriors before them, though the warriors themselves looked with disbelief. Some muttered among themselves of the prince being a fool for this plan while others kept their focus on the nervous young girl and whispered to each other that this was nothing more than a jest.

"This must be a joke, Thor, as this is a mere child you're asking us to train," the female warrior objected with a huff. "Are you expecting us to teach her how to combat like one of us?"

"Lady Sif, the only detail I expect from all of this is success," the prince answered with a confident grin. "Perhaps you would be surprised with what the young one might teach you in the process. But let us move past this moment and proceed immediately."

The only thing that the female warrior, Lady Sif, could do was inhale and shake her head in doubt before the rest of the warriors were dismissed, leaving the group be with Thor's companions until most of them left to be in their positions to start. Only the green-eyed young man remained as he approached Thor once the prince brought Fusa and her friends to two of the guards, allowing them to be brought elsewhere for the young Nobody to start. He was far more concerned than the rest were, though this concern would be mistaken for humbleness.

"Brother, are you mad? If Father finds out about what you are doing, he will be furious," the young man explained to Thor in a hushed tone. "How do you know to trust these outsiders? They could have brought along these reported monsters from the Midgardian piece or even worse."

"Do not fret about this, Loki," Thor assured to his brother with confidence, "I have witnessed the young one combat with great power and even a quiet control against this large and strong beast back in the Midgardian piece. Something in my heart told me that this power can be tapped into and used with potential. I do not doubt that this will work if you, Sif, and the Warriors Three can trust me with this once I explain to you all further about it."

Loki only sighed in thought as he pondered about it, still having doubts. Nonetheless, he nodded to Thor with hesitation even while these doubts remained in him and as they made their way to the Training Grounds.

"I hope you know what you are doing," he responded to Thor with the hushed tone again before moving to his own arena to get ready.

* * *

In the Training Grounds, Fusa picked up Meow Wow to hold it in her arms as she needed the comfort while following behind the two sentries, though Max and Gus were not worried themselves. It was not long before they were brought to a trio of stone pillars with three glowing items floating over them. The young Newborn Nobody noticed the pillars and slowly approached them with eyes widen in awe as she eventually placed the Dream Eater back down. She wanted to summon the Keyblade in her hand, but it did not appear nonetheless. Still, the sight of the three items made her curious and would have caused her to touch one of them had she not stopped from hearing one of the sentries' voices.

"These three weapons provide different aspects of power that you shall wield when you fight," the sentry explained to Fusa as she looked over to him without a word, "You must choose one to increase one aspect of your power, but you must also give up another at the cost of another aspect. Remember to choose wisely and carefully; think critically about your choice when you decide."

Fusa thought about it as best as she could as she looked over at the three weapons again and approached the first, which was a sword with a silver blade, a golden cross-guard, and a brown leather handle. Gus noticed this and floated over to her, joining her by sitting on her shoulder.

"Will my choices affect my powers?" Fusa asked the Gremlin as she looked over to see him on her shoulder, starting to become a little anxious again.

"We will see about that, Fusa," Gus answered her to ease her mind. "Now then, let's see what we have, yeah?"

She nodded quickly from the response before looking to see if there was any information on the sword. That's when Gus noticed something and tapped on her shoulder to bring her attention to an engraving underneath the sword and examine it as well as look over at the sword again with thought.

"According to this, the sword is called the 'Warrior's Sword'," Gus began to speak as Fusa read the engraving with furrowed eyebrows. "Let's see… 'This will boost great strength and provide incredible courage. It can also harbour terrible destruction.'"

Fusa didn't know what to think of it, so she moved to the second weapon, a round shield with rune-covered rims and a blue diamond-shaped gem at the center, to examine it.

"This one is known as the 'Guardian's Shield'," Gus explained as he read from the engraving under the shield, "Now then… 'This will boost durable defense and provide unbreakable kindness to those in need. But to push those away that wish to aid is perhaps the worst consequence of all.'"

Fusa remained unsure as she moved onto the third and final weapon, a bronze staff with a green pulsing orb at the top end, to examine this one. Gus, on the other hand, read the engraving as best as he could due to the glow.

"This one is the 'Mystic's Staff'," the Gremlin spoke as he read off from the engraving for Fusa and she examined the staff, "According to this, 'This will boost wondrous magic and provide strength from within. But it can also bring forth tragic ruin.' What do you think of that?"

"Sounds scary," Fusa only answered quietly with a shudder as she thought about the described "tragic ruin" that the engraving said that the staff would bring.

Then she took a few steps back and looked over at the three weapons floating over the pillars as she then started to ponder carefully.

 _Courage… Kindness… Inner strength…_ she began to think with her mind going into meditation. _Destruction… Rejection… Ruin. Which one would be right? Even more so, which one would help me the most?_

After a while, Fusa looked forward and stepped forward towards the sword and slowly reached out to grasp it in her hand, carefully removing it from its position over the pillar and then holding it. She felt a sense of energy flowing through it as if it was beckoning her to use it in combat and to accept it into her Keyblade. First her body then began to glow a faint pink with Gus noticing this and quickly floating off of her shoulder with a look of surprise on his face even when he returned to sit on Max's shoulder in the meantime. Then the glow began to surround the sword with deep thought as it slowly grew brighter, wrapping around the blade as if examining it first and then accepting it. Finally, the sword started to gradually but effectively morph into a glowing white ball that Fusa soon found herself holding. Once she watched the sword become a glowing orb, she broke out of her thought with awe and unintentionally caused the pink glow around her body to vanish, though she was unaware of it happening.

"Have you made your decision?" The sentry asked Fusa as she looked over at him and found that he briefly had a look of astonishment and had to quickly hide it to remain stoic.

"I guess, yeah…" she answered with a nod and a shrug to him.

Then the glowing orb shrink into thin air, though it was followed by Fusa making a shiver the moment she felt something enter into her system from her right hand. She brought her attention to her hand to examine where the orb went and found that it was completely gone before looking over at the sentry with eyes widen in surprise. The guard, on the other hand, wasn't surprised himself that it happened, though he wasn't sure if the glow would return around the young girl's body again. Max, who was next to him, was a little amazed by what occurred, but wasn't particularly bothered by the glow. Instead, he brought his attention over to the sentry with the thought that nothing could phase the Einherjar here. In the meantime, Gus took out his journal and began to write down his observations from witnessing this glow of power.

"You have chosen wisely, young one," he said to her as Fusa brought her attention to the palm of her right hand again. "With your decision, you now have an increase in physical strength. But you must also give up another aspect of your power. Which one of the two weapons do you choose to give up?"

Fusa, now no longer surprised, looked over at the sentry again before bringing her attention to the other two weapons and trying to figure out the answer to the question. Then she beheld the "Mystic's Staff" and approached it, slowly reaching out to it and grabbing it by the handle to take it out. As she did this, however, she felt a flow of energy being rejected out of her system and going back into the staff, causing the green orb to stop glowing. Much like the sword, the staff slowly formed into an orb but rather than being a glowing ball of power, the texture felt like stone in Fusa's hand as she watched with wide eyes in alarm. The staff's transformation into the stone orb caused her to hold it as best as it could because of its unusually heavy weight, though she didn't notice the weight at first.

"Have you made your decision?" The sentry asked Fusa as she didn't look over at him this time, though she considered doing so even when she couldn't.

"Yes," she answered with a nod.

With her answer, the stone orb began to crack and crumble in her hand, splitting apart into pieces and falling onto the ground where the remaining bits suddenly became dust in the wind. Fusa watched this and quickly brushed the palm of her right hand off in case anything left of the stone orb was left on it. Once this happened, she brought her attention back over to the sentry and her companions and then walked over to them to meet up with them.

"With your decision to give up Magic, you now have a decrease in wielding magic," the Einherjar then explained to her as she joined Max, Gus, and Meow Wow again. "In the process, you've chosen to fight Lady Sif first for your training. Be aware of her own strength, young one; she has a reputation for being one of the greatest warriors of Asgard."

Fusa gulped from the thought of combating someone with this reputation and grew nervous a bit until she felt this boost of courage within her to cause her to nod in understanding from the guard's words. Max and Gus noticed this and gave her pats on her back to give her assurance, something that she caught onto and looked over at them. The Einherjar then began to make his way away from the group and the pillars, causing Fusa to dash after him to catch to him with Meow Wow by her side and Max and Gus following suit.

Then they arrived to a new location where three young servants around Fusa's age waited for them with a pair of silver armor shoulder plates with brown straps, a silver helmet, and a silver-bladed sword with a matching round shield in their hands. Fusa noticed the items and grew confused with what she noticed, though she looked to her dark blue bands on her arms when she noticed that the young servants did not possess armor for them.

"Hey, that's pretty cool—they're going to prep you with some armor of your own," Max said to Fusa with excitement from seeing this, though the young Newborn Nobody looked over at him with this confusion as she removed her backpack and handed it over to him to hold it in the meantime. "I got to do this with Dad when I was undergoing some training myself. It's natural for a Royal Knight in case you're wondering."

"Ah, yes, I keep thinking about it," Gus agreed with an intrigued nod as the sentry led Fusa to the young servants. "Perhaps you can give the young Fusa some pointers while fighting with this world's best."

"Gus, you do know that I fight with my Skateboard Shield and not a Keyblade, right? It's not that easy as it looks, just so you know," Max responded with an unimpressed look on his face as he held Fusa's backpack by the top handle in his hands, though Gus shrugged his shoulders with the attempt.

Fusa looked over at her companions conversing before approaching the young servants, finding that two of them were boys and the third was a girl with raised eyebrows. There, she was stopped with Meow Wow by her side, though the servants surrounded her and forced the Dream Eater away from her momentarily. In no time, Fusa was fitted with the helmet, shoulder plates, and the sword and shield in her hands. The three servants moved back to examine her and allowed the Spirit Meow Wow to return to her side once more before looking at each other with a sense of success and then returning to their regular duties. Fusa, on the other hand, did not have pride of what she saw and felt when she began to wear them. Instead, she found discomfort in wielding a new blade in her grasp, feeling cold armor on her shoulders, and having abrasive brown straps under her arms. She was unsure at first if she can fight wearing this armor and the helmet on her head. But she inhaled to tolerate this adjustment with the thought that the armor was made with hard work in mind, so she brought her attention to Max and Gus as they went over to meet up with her again.

"Looking pretty cool there, Fusa," the young Knight complimented to Fusa as he looked over at the shoulder plates and the helmet.

"I don't know, it feels odd wearing armour like this…" she responded as she rubbed her underarm as she felt the strap was irritating on her skin. "But thank you, Max."

"Nevertheless, this might be temporary," Gus assured to Fusa with a nod of his head. "Perhaps you would keep the ensemble as a souvenir from Asgard."

Then the sentries approached the group and led them away to a set of fields where, surrounded by rune-covered pillars and iron chains, Thor's own companions were being prepared themselves with a selection of their weapons as a start. Fusa noticed this and did not say anything that would distract them as she was soon brought over to two more sentries waiting for her. Max and Gus voluntarily followed one of the Einherjar to the side, though the young Knight noticed that Meow Wow was still at Fusa's side and gently picked it up to bring it along. In the meantime, Thor arrived with a watchful eye on the process and went to the side to join the young girl's company.

"Are you ready to begin?" One of the Einherjar inquired to Fusa as she looked up at him and nodded quickly.

Then as she held the sword in one hand and the shield in the other, the young Newborn Nobody was escorted into the field to combat Lady Sif. Fusa remained nervous, but she hoped that this boost of strength with provide this courage as promised.

"I'm going to need that courage…" she muttered to herself with uneasiness seeping into her again.

* * *

Elsewhere in the Asgardian Palace, an elderly man in regal red and gold robes and armor and a golden cap over his right eye sat in his throne as a woman around his physical age remained by his side to keep him company. Their peace was interrupted when one of the servants approached them in a hurry and only stopped as he was close to the first step ascending to the throne. The two regal figures took notice of this and brought their attentions to the exhausted servant boy before them.

"Speak, boy. What news do you bring before your king and queen?" The elderly man beckoned to the servant.

"It is the Chained Token in your vault, Your Majesty," the servant boy answered as he began to catch his breath, "It has been activated with a bright glow as it floated over its podium and the Einherjar believe that there is something wrong with it."

The king of this realm remained silent for a moment as he thought about what this could mean. He was told that, like many of the artifacts found within the vault, the Chained Token would bring change to the realm, but he assumed that it would bring doom; from this assumption, he had kept the Token locked up and guarded in the vault with no signs of activity for many years. Now that has changed and he would need to investigate the vault to see if the Token has affected the rest of the artifacts. His queen, on the other hand, did not think of this as a concern, but instead as a good omen of something more.

"Is there anything else?" The queen asked in a motherly tone to the lad and noticed his nod of his head.

"Prince Thor has returned from the forbidden Midgardian piece, but in his return, he's brought along outsiders," the servant boy answered, much to the unease and frustration of the king when he heard these news. "One of these outsiders is a young one with a strange power that even Heimdall could not see through."

Just as the king was about to speak out in his frustration from this information when his queen brought her hand on top of his to keep him calm.

"Dear Odin, be patient and wait for anything new about these outsiders," the queen advised to her husband as he looked over at her with his good eye, "Perhaps they will combat these creatures when the Einherjar could not."

"Very well, Frigga," the king responded with a reluctant compliance as he knew his wife's mental strength was equal to his own, "But if these outsiders bring harm to Asgard, then we will have no choice but to send them back to the Midgardian piece."


	18. Chapter 17- Asgard: Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Within the Training Grounds, Fusa must now work on new abilities with Lady Sif, the Warriors Three, and Thor's brother Loki. But, unbeknownst to those within the Palace, something wicked comes to Asgard...

Once Max, Gus, and Meow Wow were brought to the side to keep an eye on the young Keyblade wielder, Fusa first stepped foot into the arena with the sword in her right hand and the round shield grasped in her left hand. She found herself intimidated by the dark-haired woman and tensed up a bit when she noticed that the waiting warrior raised an eyebrow at her. But she forced herself to relax and approach her opponent to begin. As this happened, Gus took out his journal and began to updated information regarding as to what was going on while Max held onto his friend's backpack in the meantime. Thor, on the other hand, continued to observe the young Newborn Nobody and her mannerisms, though he did not object. He wanted to see if Fusa would prove his company right on his words.

"So, you are this fighter that Thor has spoken about as if you were a legend," the female warrior spoke in a skeptical demeanor, though she scoffed when she noticed her opponent's nervousness. "For someone that was said to have taken down a large beast, you seem less like a lion and more akin to a rabbit. Perhaps your wit shall impress me in the end, but I highly doubt it would happen. I am Lady Sif of Asgard, one of the finest of the Realm. If you have a name, then speak it; I prefer to not call you 'Young One' all the time."

"Erm, it's Fusa," Fusa answered meekly to Sif with a stammer before attempting to adjust the strap under her right arm as it was irritating her skin and rub her underarm with her side to sooth it a bit.

"Now then, Young Fusa," Sif began to speak with a double-bladed sword staff in her grasp as the young Newborn Nobody looked over at her, "I was informed that you did not use your final bouts of strength and your supposed powers to your advantage. This is where the Limit Break comes into play, but I assume you do not know what that is. Very well, I'll explain it. When you are on your last legs, draw in the greatest strength and unleash a prevailing attack that will transition into an explosion of power otherwise known as a 'Final Limit'. Midgardians have regarded this to be the 'Berserker State' when they try to justify a warrior's strength in his final moments." Then she brought her staff up with one blade pointing upwards at Fusa and commanded to her, "Come, young one. Bring your sword up and fight me."

Fusa remained standing opposite of Sif out of anxiety and gulped with her knees quaking a bit. She wasn't sure if she was going to regret using a new blade to train, but if it meant using it for now, then so be it. So she brought her shield up first, followed by her sword with her attention on Sif. Then she charged forward with the sword drawn and shield in front of her. The moment Fusa approached the female warrior, however, Sif brought her double-bladed sword staff back and brought one end down towards the helmet-covered head. Fusa quickly hoisted her shield up to protect her head as best as she could, though the impact left a dent at the center, before swinging the sword's blade towards Sif. The warrior blocked the blade with the other end lifted up, swung the blade to the ground to bring Fusa down a bit, and then roughly kicked her under her jaw, sharply catapulting her into a backward flip and causing her to not only release her sword from the kick, but also land on her chest hard and cry out in pain upon landing. From the side, Max and Gus cringed uncomfortably with a small unisonous groan when they witnessed it; Thor, on the other hand, remained focused on the young girl. He was certain that she would get back onto her feet with this amount of strength that struck her like before on the Midgardian piece.

It took Fusa a moment to finally move to her hands and knees with her head down before her helmet fell off when she did this, allowing her ahoge to slowly come up and curl forward from being compressed for a bit of time. Her body shook and yet, at the same time, newfound strength and power flowed in a quick rush running in it and circulating in her Heart. With the amount of strength that she had to use, she then brought herself back onto her feet and gradually stood up on shaking legs as Lady Sif watched her as Fusa gradually removed the dented shield and the shoulder armor. In spite of the painful bruise that formed under her chin, the young Newborn Nobody had to remain focused if she needed to succeed in this training.

"Now you are on your last legs," Sif then instructed to Fusa as she held her double-bladed sword staff tightly in her grasp, "Come fight me and use your Limit Break."

When she heard this, Fusa opened her right hand and allowed her Keyblade to appear with this pink glow faintly appearing around her body. Sif observed this with her sincere expression shifting into a look of disbelief, but quickly hid it to keep herself focused. Fusa then brought her attention to her opponent as the glow around her body grew brighter, her eyes locked on Sif alone. After a moment passed, the young Newborn Nobody then took off in a dash towards the female warrior as Sif readied herself with her teeth clenched before making a Sliding Dash with a Horizontal Slash added to it; this was guarded by one sword of her staff-like contraption when Sif noticed this. When Fusa made another swing of her Keyblade, Sif guarded this attack as well, growing frustrated with what she is getting from this. But just as the warrior could strike the young Newborn Nobody with the other end of her weapon, however, Fusa swiftly blocked the strike with the guard of her Keyblade as it glowed with her as well.

"My patience grows thin from this foolishness," Sif then warned the young Keyblade wielder in a low tone. "Are you going to fight or not?"

"I can do it!" Fusa cried out as her eyes brightly glowed and the surge of energy quickened and suddenly emitted out of her glowing body, much to the observing Max and Gus's amazement.

Just as Sif could split her sword staff into twin swords, Fusa dashed towards her as if her feet were skating on ice before striking the warrior a few times at first with sparks emitting out of the teeth of the Keyblade. For each strike, Sif grunted from feeling bouts of physical pain as well as pain in her heart, but endured them. The best she could do to prevent another strike was to thrust one sword towards Fusa with the bottom of the blade leaving a cut on the young girl's newly exposed shoulder tip and the other leaving another cut by the side of her waist. This stunned Fusa for a moment as she slid back against one of the pillars, but she catapulted herself off of the pillar's base with another dash and then struck Sif a few more times with her Keyblade. After a few moments of the attacks, the young Newborn Nobody slid back slightly

"Sorry about this…" Fusa apologized to Sif as her glow grew even brighter and the warrior attempted to endure even more pain in her heart and physical pain as well.

Once she said this, Fusa picked up her speed and struck the warrior multiple times with her Keyblade again. But this time, as she did this, part of her glow passed through Sif as well, making it harder for her to endure the pain more. Fusa herself was getting exhausted from having her energy spent on this Limit Break, so she finally made one last strike—a Horizontal Slash—at Sif with the glow around her body then transferred to the tip of her Keyblade. This struck the warrior and brought her to the ground on her knees with an unbearable ache when it could not be endured much longer. Max and Gus looked on with astonishment when they saw this; Thor, on the other hand, grinned with dignity from the amount of power that displayed before the small audience. When it was over and done with, Fusa's body and eyes were no longer glowing and she then crouched in exhaustion and started to catch her breath. Yet she noticed that Sif was injured as she ignored her own wounds and approached her with the worry that she has caused too much damage in the fight.

"You alright?" Fusa asked with worry as she extended her hand out in the hopes to help the warrior up.

Sif noticed her opponent's hand and, keeping her composure so that no one would notice her surprise, moved to get up on her feet despite the pain. It was here that Fusa then took a couple steps back and slowly coiled her hand back to herself.

"Not bad, but only because I went easy on you," Sif then explained to Fusa, keeping her sincere demeanor. "It was beginner's luck that you succeeded anyway. We'll see how you fare in battle one day."

Then the warrior moved to leave the field with the amount of strength left to endure more as she walked away from the concerned Newborn Nobody and exited the gate pillars. Fusa soon followed suit once her Keyblade disappeared from her hand and made her way over to the sentries that were waiting for her. Immediately after she exited the field, Max, Gus, and Meow Wow rushed over to meet up with her again.

"That was totally awesome, Fusa!" Max exclaimed as the Keyblade wielder looked over at them with bewilderment.

"It was fantastic the way you took care of your 'last legs'," Gus added with a nod of agreement.

"But Miss Sif, she—ah, she sounded disappointed," Fusa only responded as she shook her head in doubt. "She said it was 'beginner's luck' that I defeated her."

"Worry not, young one, for Sif meant it as a compliment," Thor explained to her as he joined the small group. "You succeeded in impressing her with your skill; she just wishes to not admit it."

Fusa's lips tightened in doubt as she heard this, but slowly nodded when she thought about it more.

"Rest for a moment and prepare yourself before you move on to face the Warriors Three next," the warrior prince then advised to her before gesturing his hand to Meow Wow, "I have prepared your pet with a gift of its own. How about you test it first for your injuries?"

Fusa grew puzzled from what Thor said to her, even if she didn't notice the injuries at first, but she moved towards the waiting Dream Eater and knelt on one knee, looking at Meow Wow to find this "gift" that the prince alluded. That's when Meow Wow brought its attention to her with its X-shaped yellow eyes looking up at her rather innocently, to which its magenta horn began to glow a lime green and then point at her, causing her to glow the same as well. Much to her surprise, the bruise, dirt, exhaustion, and cuts vanished as if they never existed. Then the glow itself vanished from around Meow Wow's horn and Fusa's body as the Newborn Nobody looked down at it with astonishment.

"How did—that was fantastic!" Fusa exclaimed with a gleam before giving Meow Wow a rub on its back in appreciation.

"Whilst you and your companions were receiving attention for your wounds, this little one was the only one that remained unharmed and conscious," Thor then explained to her as she looked up at him and then stood straight up again to pay attention. "The Einherjar did not know what to do with it, but I observed notable loyalty for all of you. So I granted it with the gift to heal wounds and ailments during battles."

The Newborn Nobody was surprised to hear this, but she gave the Asgardian prince a nod of her head in gratitude.

"Thank you," she then responded to him with a friendly smile.

"It is the best I could do as you protected it from being crushed by Mjolnir," Thor replied with a smile in return.

"Now we won't have to worry about using Potions after fighting—brilliant idea," Gus then spoke up with a thought that came to mind, causing both the young Newborn Nobody and the Asgardian prince to look over at him. "Not to mention that the Meow Wow can be more useful when we need it most."

Then Fusa realized something and looked over to Max, who continued to hold her backpack for her, before going over to it to receive it from him again. She eventually opened it and searched for the Shield Cookie jar before pausing for a moment. Rather than finding the whole jar, she found that the jar itself was shattered into many pieces and that the Shield Cookies were scattered inside of the backpack in pieces as well. She looked into the backpack to find the mess and then closed the backpack up so that she wouldn't have to worry about it now. As she put her backpack on, however, Max finally approached her when he noticed something.

"Thought you were alright with the armor, Fusa," the young Knight informed the Newborn Nobody as she looked over at him.

"Well, I tried my best to endure wearing the armour for the first time," Fusa explained as she rubbed her right underarm on her side a bit, "I guess it didn't really sit with me. Must have been the straps…"

"Still, it was pretty cool seeing you wearing some armor for the first time," Max added with a shrug nonetheless before noticing one of the Einherjar approaching the small group and then directing Fusa over to him.

"My lord, the Warriors Three have entered into the field and are now anticipating the young one's arrival," the Einherjar then notified to Thor as he and Gus looked over at him.

"We will be there," the prince responded with a nod of his head before the sentry bowed his head and lead the way for the group to follow behind him.

Fusa maintained her backpack on her back as she and Max walked behind Thor with Gus floating beside them on Max's left side and Meow Wow bounding by Fusa's right side. It was not long before the small group made their way over to another area, where it was similar to the field where Lady Sif was in except for a couple of notable differences that the young Newborn Nobody caught on. The first was, of course, the trio of warriors waiting at one end of the field for their opponent to arrive while the other was a pair of steel poles equally apart at the center of the field with smaller poles melded at the tops and with each other akin to trees. This amazed Fusa and her friends as they made their way over.

"Do not worry, Young Fusa, for the Warriors Three are friends of my own and they understand what I want them to do," Thor assured to Fusa with a confident grin. "Though they have their own separate ways of combatting."

"What do you mean?" The young Newborn Nobody asked with a slight nervous stammer when she looked at him.

"I'll leave that for you to find out when you do," the prince answered with a chuckle and a pat on her back, nearly knocking the wind out of her.

The only thing that Fusa did when Thor answered was nervously and breathlessly chuckle in return before looking over at the field to see the three waiting warriors and then exhaling once she caught her breath. Then she removed her backpack and handed it over to Max, who headed to the side with Gus, Meow Wow, and Thor in the meantime as she made her way to the field as well. It was not long until Fusa entered into the field as she attempted to summon her Keyblade into her hand, though it didn't appear in her hand like it did before. So she gulped in anxiety as she stood opposite of the Warriors Three, to which they noticed her presence and brought their attentions to her.

"This is going to be rather interesting—combatting a child," the dashing blond warrior spoke first as he prepare his foil in his right hand. Then he shot a friendly grin to Fusa and then introduced himself with a bow to her, "I am Fandral the Dashing of the Warriors Three, my dear child." Then he gestured to his companions and added with a gesture to the red-bearded warrior, "This is Volstagg the Voluminous, the strongest of the trio and the biggest eater out of all of us."

"How very humourous of you, Fandral," the red-bearded warrior, Volstagg, responded to Fandral with an unimpressed tone in his voice.

"And of course, this is Hogun the Grim, our finest friend," Fandral added again as he gestured to the final member of the trio, who held a metal mace in one hand and carried a stoic expression on his face.

"Now then, before we get started, can we ask for your name, young one?" Volstagg then inquired the young Newborn Nobody.

"Fusa, sir," Fusa answered with a nod to the trio.

"Ah, how fascinating! Are you from the village of your namesake, then?" Volstagg asked her again, much to Fusa's confusion. Then he shook his head and explained as he cleared his throat, "Oh, never mind that. Anyway, Thor has told us about how you combatted with these creatures with that strange weapon of yours. He also mentioned that you attempted to control one with some sort of power, which didn't work out as planned. So he wants to see how you will fare fighting three opponents at once with this alleged power."

"He also wants to see if you're brave enough to take on all three of us," Fandral added as Fusa listened to them closely. "If you're ready, then get your weapon out and fight."

Although she remained tense, Fusa nodded and opened her right hand, concentrating on getting her Keyblade out. Soon enough, "Gentle Heart" appeared in her hand and allowed her to grasp on its handle tightly and ready herself in a defensive stance. It was from the Keyblade's appearance that the trio readied their weapons and charged forward with battle cries. Fandral moved ahead first with an excited laugh as he thrusted the tip of his foil towards the young Keyblade wielder, forcing Fusa to barely dodge it as well as guard it. She noticed Hogun swinging his mace at her and brought her Keyblade around to guard the attack as well as her body began to faintly glow again. But this time, she noticed one of the steel pole trees and got an idea. This brought her to make a quick dash to this tree and skid to a stop between the two trees, much to the trio's confusion. But Volstagg moved forward first with the battle axe in his hand before heavily swinging it at Fusa's direction.

The young Newborn Nobody quickly blocked the attack as her body glowed brighter and transferred over to Volstagg quickly, holding him back from moving a bit. She noticed this before moving a bit, causing the larger warrior to move as well, and then readying herself again to fight.

"I-I can't move… what is happening to me?" Volstagg insisted as he struggled to break free of this power.

"Please forgive me for this," Fusa quickly apologized before charging towards the remaining two warriors with the controlled Volstagg following suit.

From there, Fusa brought her Keyblade up with a Vertical Slash towards Fandral as Volstagg made the same movement towards Hogun, though the dashing blond warrior blocked the attack as the grim-expressed Hogun tackled his companion with his mace. The moment that this happened, Fusa winced and clenched her teeth before focusing on keeping her grasp on the husky warrior and then moving forward to attempt a Horizontal Slash at him. As she did this, Volstagg moved forward and did the same at Hogun, though this was blocked by his companion's mace in his grasp. The young Keyblade wielder fared no better; her own attack was blocked by Fandral as he made a victorious chuckle. Just as he was about to move forward, however, Fusa slid back and dashed forward with a quick uppercut from under the teeth of her Keyblade that struck Fandral hard before making a Horizontal Slash and bringing him to the ground, executing a Break in his Heart as she did this. As this happened, Volstagg did the same to Hogun, though the stoic warrior noticed the pink glow around his companion's body and quickly brought him down. Not only did this cause Fusa's influence to snap off, but also exhaust Volstagg as well, for he remained on the ground with a low groan of fatigue. The young Newborn Nobody felt this and groaned a bit, nearly faltering back with a shiver.

Before she could do this, however, Fusa's eyes flashed a pink glow briefly upon hearing a steady heartbeat drawing close and she turned her head slightly to notice Hogun charging after her with his mace again. This time, she dodged the strike, but barely so—in the process, she received a small amount of cuts on her upper left arm from the mace's spikes, causing her to cry out of pain. Then she noticed that Hogun retracted the spikes back into the mace and wiped it off a bit to make it clean again so he would retract the spikes out of the mace again. She then inhaled to endure the pain again and faced her remaining opponent again, clenching her grip on the handle of her Keyblade tighter and nearly turning her knuckles white as she did this. After a few moments passed, Fusa was the first to take off in a charge towards Hogun, to which he readied himself and held his mace in his hand, waiting for her to come closer.

As she got close to the warrior, Fusa suddenly brought her Keyblade up and made a 360 degree strike against Hogun before making a combo of a Sliding Dash and an Upper Slash at him, hoisting him into the air slightly. This allowed Fusa to catapult herself with a small leap from her Keyblade to attempt to knock him back down. As she did this, however, the remaining warrior brought his mace to the ground first and then kicked her away by her gut, pushing her back to between the steel pole trees and knocking the wind out of her even harder. But she didn't waste any time getting up in spite of her being breathless and remained on her feet with her left hand holding her sore gut, a reminder to when she was first trained on how to use Guard. Then she noticed that Hogun was growing exhausted and, even when she was growing worn down from fighting with the cuts on her upper left arm still stinging, the Newborn Nobody had another idea. That's when she shifts her light pink eyes quickly to the steel pole trees and back to Hogun as he charged towards her once more.

Before the warrior grew closer to her, however, Fusa then brought the teeth of her Keyblade up and hooked onto one of the pole "branches" and suddenly hoisted herself up as best as she could, pulling her knees up as Hogun drew forward with a swing of his mace. That's when, after swinging from the "branch" with the amount of strength that she could muster up, Fusa then unhooked the Keyblade from it and brought it down towards the warrior. This stunned Hogun and slightly knocked him away, but this also caused Fusa to land knees rather heavily as well. The young Newborn Nobody got up with some struggle as her knees shook from the impact, but she kept herself standing nonetheless before noticing Hogun shaking off the attack a bit. Before he could swing his mace at her again, Fusa's eyes glowed to see his Heart was on the verge of breaking, allowing her to have another idea. She then charged at him this time and, with a final cry of her own, guarded one of his attacks before executing another quick uppercut from her Keyblade and then made a Horizontal Slash at him, knocking him away. As she did this, her eyes glowed and with the final attack, she also executed a Break on his Heart as well, bringing him down to his knees. Even when Hogun couldn't be brought to down to the ground completely, he remained on his knees with his mace planted on the ground and his head hanging low in honorable defeat. Fusa remained standing with exhaustion of her own before looking over to see that the Warriors Three were down, much to her concern for them.

"So Thor was right," Hogun finally spoke as he caught his breath and the young Keyblade wielder brought her attention to him, "You do have a warrior's determination."

Her eyebrows shot in surprise before noticing her companions, Meow Wow, and Thor entering into the field to meet up with her and her fallen opponents. Then Fusa brought her attention to see the sentries going over to examine Warriors Three and back over to see Max holding her backpack, to which she went over to him. Without a word, she opened her backpack up and searched for the heart-shaped container filled with multiple Heart Orbs. At first, the small group were confused by this until Fusa stopped and pulled out the container. Then they watched as she found a cap and removed it from the container, gradually allowing her to absorb the Heart Orbs within and cause her body to glow once more. The container eventually became empty as her body stopped glowing, to which she looked over at Hogun first, put the container away, and headed over to him. Once she knelt to him, Fusa's eyes closed momentarily and opened to reveal a glow once again, allowing her to see the outline of his broken Heart with cracks all over. Then she brought her hands up slowly and began to concentrate on erasing the broken outlines of cracks carefully until it was completely solid again.

When she did this, Fusa watched as Hogun began to move again with renewed strength and then brought himself to stand up again without any struggle; she stood straight up before heading over to Fandral to do the same as well with her companions and the Asgardian warrior observing her as she did so. Although Max and Gus were unfazed by their friend's power, Thor remained intrigued with what he witnessed, noticing how the young Keyblade wielder used it and what the aftermath was. It was after Fandral was helped up back to his feet by one of the other sentries once he no longer felt exhausted that Fusa moved onto to do the same once more for Volstagg as he remained on the ground, her eyes glowing again as she eventually executed Mend on his Heart as well, giving him consciousness again.

"Ah, thank you, young one," Volstagg thanked her once he felt his strength returning to normal and he was being helped up to his feet by another sentry. "I thought I was going to be expecting the Valkyries in that moment."

"I couldn't leave the three of you be like this—I'm sorry for doing that, good sirs," Fusa explained to the Warriors Three humbly as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"There is no need to apologize for what you did," Fandral then explained to her as he and Hogun joined their companion. "For a child, there is no doubt that Thor saw something in you." He added with a light flick of his blond hair, "Consider your ancestors to be very proud of this moment."

"An…cestors?" Fusa asked with confusion, repeating the word slowly.

"Well, if not, then perhaps your parents are most proud," Fandral corrected himself with an off-kilter chuckle until he noticed the young girl's genuine puzzlement and frowned. "I take it that you do not know who your parents are?"

"Actually, um…" Fusa finally confessed sheepishly with the tips of her index fingers touching each other, "I-I don't even know if I even have them…" She looked over to see that Max and Gus were surprised to hear this, though she didn't say anything else about it.

"Then you are an orphan?" Volstagg asked Fusa as she looked over at him without a word, but then he added with pride, "No matter, young one, for I will ask my wife if we can take you in as one of our own!"

This surprised the young Newborn Nobody, as well as her friends, as her eyes widened with shock from the proposal; Thor, on the other hand, only chuckled as he shook his head a bit as Fandral quietly groaned and muttered under his breath as it happened. Then the sentry entered into the field and approached the gathered group to bring them out of the field to move on. Fusa followed him out first as Max, Gus, and Meow Wow accompanied her with Thor and the Warriors Three following suit as well. In their exit, the young Knight handed the Newborn Nobody her backpack, to which she accepted it with a light of her head in thanks before putting it on again.

"That was totally awesome, Fusa," Max then complimented to the Keyblade wielder with an excited gleam. Then he slowly frowned from realization and asked her, "But why didn't you tell either me or Gus that you didn't have parents earlier?"

"Well… it didn't cross my mind back when we were on the Gummi Ship," she answered to Max with a stammer as she wrapped her index finger around her ahoge. "Then again, there are things I don't even know what they are…"

The two looked at each other with a look of surprise, though Max patted her back in an attempt of comfort, something that caught her by surprise. She gave him and Gus a nod of her thanks in response, though she didn't say anything. As the two groups followed the sentry back into the Training Room and towards a new location close to the final field, Thor brought his attention to his friends to converse with them. He kept his tone low so that neither Fusa nor her own friends would hear him as he did so.

"No longer just a mere child, my friends?" The prince asked with a chuckle.

"By the time the sun sets, Volstagg will have to agree with you when he adopts this one," Fandral answered as he relaxed a bit, Hogun retracted the spikes on his mace and cleaned it, and Volstagg picked up a waiting turkey leg, eating it eagerly and minding these words. "But we'll see how she fares against Silvertongue."

"I have confidence in that," Thor replied as he watched as Fusa receiving some healing from Meow Wow as it used Cure on her again, allowing the cuts on her upper left arm to vanish in the meantime.

Over at the small group, Fusa noticed a small shop with a flickering blue illusion of a Moogle looking exactly like Mog and walked over to it curiously, causing Max and Gus to stop and watch as Meow Wow bounded over to her side. One other detail that she caught on would be how the Shop was assembled. It was wooden and surrounded by good luck items, weapons, and synthesized items strung up by a rope-like substance. Then she noticed yellow shards much like the one Meow Wow found in Hollow Bastion and brought her full attention to it, unaware of Max and Gus joining her again.

"Ah, greetings, kupo! My name is Erlend and this is my Moogle Shop, kupo! Would you like to browse through my collection of goods, kupo?" The Moogle at the Shop inquired, causing Fusa to bring her attention to him.

"You look exactly like Mog," Gus then spoke in observation as he floated over to examine the hologram and found a large double-handed bowl lit by blue flames under the hologram. "But you have a different name… good fellow, may I ask why the hologram?"

"You have a keen eye, kupo," Erlend then responded with a nod of his head as the pom-pom bobbed back and forth a bit, "Like many of the Moogles, I hated having my pom-poms ruffled by large hands, kupo. So I am permitted to conduct my business with the use of this hologram since I would be staying here as a legal resident, kupo. But enough about me, kupo; is there anything you would like to buy, kupo?"

Fusa looked over at the Moogle before examining the contents of the Shop to decide as to what to get. A few minutes later, she decided to purchase an extra jar of Shield Cookies for Meow Wow, a couple more Potions, and another container of Heart Orbs apparently labeled as the "Multi-Heart Orb". Max, on the other hand, noticed a good luck charm and purchased it to put it on his Skateboard Shield as an aesthetic look rather than for any other purpose. As for Gus, he took some notes in his journal about the hologram and how it was conducted without needing to buy anything else. It was then that the group and Meow Wow hurried back over to the Asgardian prince, the Warriors Three, and the Einherjar when they found that they were at a new field this time.

In this particular field, Fusa noticed that across the way, there stood the green-eyed young man practicing glowing green magic in his hand and letting it flow fluidly in his hand. She also saw a group of straw ragdolls collapsed on the ground, though they made her more uneasy than her upcoming opponent. It was not until the small group arrived and stopped once they were in the presence of the prince again. Then Thor brought his attention to Fusa as she handed Max her backpack again and the Einherjar led Max and Gus to the side once more as well as lured Meow Wow to join them with a toy cloth mouse on a string.

"A word of advice for you, Young Fusa, before you face my brother," Thor then explained to Fusa just as she was about to go over to enter into the new field and looked over at him when she stopped. "He is more gifted in magic and wit to balance out his strength, so you will need to some magic of your own to be on equal ground with him."

"But I don't have magic—at least, I don't know how to use it," Fusa responded as she shook her head with the realization that she didn't have any knowledge of any magic.

"Which is why I have decided to give you this so you will," the prince assured to her before holding his hand up and out, opening it up.

In his hand, a bright yellow orb with a lightning bolt striking inside slowly appeared above Thor's hand and instantly captured Fusa's attention. As she stared at it in awe, she reached her hand out to it and touched it with the tip of her middle finger. This caused the orb to morph into a fluid substance and wrap around her hand without making contact with her until it absorbed into her, giving her an electric jolt of energy that whipped her long braid up briefly when this happened and leaving a taste of toasted lemons in her mouth as well. It also shocked her as to what to do now, though Thor was not fazed by this sight at all.

"What you have now is the Element of Thunder," he then explained to her as she shudder with a jerked twitch of her head to adjust to it. "By using your weapon and calling out to the Element with your blade raised to the heavens, you can summon it and vanquish surrounding enemies."

This amazed Fusa as she listened to Thor and examined her finger, finding it both intact and clean. But before she had a chance to thank the Asgardian prince, however, she was brought into the field by another guard to get started immediately. Thor himself moved to join her companions in the meantime with her attention on her as Meow Wow bounded to his side and wagged its tail to watch as well. Inside of the field, the green-eyed young man brought his attention over to see Fusa entering and, with a small wave of his hand, caused the magic to disappear from sight. Here, the young Newborn Nobody remained uneasy due to the lifeless ragdolls surrounding her. Even if they didn't move, she didn't want to risk anything and remained on her toes. Of course, the young man merely assumed that she was nervous.

"So you're this 'fighter' that my brother has decided to put faith in," he then said sincerely to her as she snapped her head over to him, thinking about it. "Very well, I suppose I will have to humour him. I am Loki Odinson, secondborn son of the All-Father… and the lesser renowned prince." He sounded hesitant and bitter when he spoke this bit as Fusa heard him and became concerned. "I would have been obliged to loan you some of my own magic for this, but I see that Thor took care of that."

"I'm sorry, I didn't—" She began to respond to try and comfort him, but Loki raised a hand up to silence her from speaking more, so she remained quiet.

"Save your pity, young one, now is neither the place nor time to express it," he then advised to her before lowering his hand. He explained, "Now then, let us get started. When you are combatting with an opponent that wields Magic, you must be prepared to strike back. The supposed powers that you possess are strong, but they won't be enough, so Magic will give you advantage. Even then, it is not unlimited." Soon he brought his hand up and summoned an illusion of a bubble-like orb with a red-tinted core in it and continued, "This is what is known as the Magic Orb; when absorbed, it gives strength to your Magic again. But remember to use your new skills wisely, for mishandling them can bring consequences. Understand?"

When she heard Loki's question, Fusa quickly nodded in confirmation. He gave a nod of his head to her in return before snapping his fingers once. That's when the ragdolls began to twitch and slowly rise to their feet as she watched and tensed up. But her Keyblade appeared in her hand as this happened, so Fusa inhaled and brought herself to make a defensive stance. The moment she did this, Loki snapped his fingers again and caused the ragdolls to move their limbs in a fluid motion and flung themselves towards the young Newborn Nobody to attack. The Keyblade wielder took a second to react, attempting to strike against them to no avail. For each physical attack, the ragdolls pressed forward. She then recalled what Thor told her as well as Loki's advice to her and realized that it is not the physical attacks that can take them down for good. That's when she decided to try out a new strategy.

"Thunder!" Fusa called out with her Keyblade hoisted up, bringing bolts of lightning to strike down on the ragdolls.

With the ragdolls getting electrocuted, they released the bubble-like orbs—the Magic Orbs—when they collapsed lifelessly onto the ground. Fusa noticed this and dashed forward to collect the Orbs, absorbing them all and receiving a cherry soda taste in the process. Then she noticed a second batch of ragdolls flailing towards her and did the same to them as well, summoning Thunder again, electrocuting them, and collecting the Magic Orbs. After going through two more batches of defeating the ragdolls and collecting Magic Orbs, Fusa finally turned her attention to Loki. She noticed that his hands were glowing a faint green in preparation with his feet apart in a defensive stance.

"You're going to regret this…" he warned her as Fusa shifted her feet sharply towards him to take off in a charge.

Before she could dash and charge at him, however, Fusa was caught off-guard when Loki summoned identical copies of himself surrounding her and skidded to a halt. She looked around in a state of confusion when she realized that she couldn't tell the real one apart. It didn't help that as she attempted to move, the copies shifted multiple times to confuse her. When she grew overwhelmed from this, Fusa brought her Keyblade up to the air again and called out to Thunder like before, summoning lightning bolts onto the copies. The real Loki was exposed by an emitted cry of pain as he felt the bolt while the copies were vanquished, leaving him to be on Fusa's left side. But he did not give up yet, for he summoned a glowing green ball and fired it at her. When Fusa tried to dodge it, it followed her and then struck her from behind, bringing her to her knees roughly. Aside from a few scrapes on her lower thighs and dirt at the bottoms of her capri pants, she wasn't bothered.

Once she got to her feet, Fusa saw that Loki now had glowing daggers materializing in his hands and brought her Keyblade up so she would ready herself again. He powered up his daggers and then tossed them towards her one by one, something she wasn't prepared for. But Fusa brought her Keyblade up to block the daggers away; although one dagger disintegrated upon impact on the blade, the remaining daggers left one cut on her lower right arm, another on her left cheek and barely missing the bottom strands of her fringe, and the final on her right shoulder, barely missing her neck. Yet these dagger disintegrated upon impact before she could react, so she remained holding her ground to let the shock pass. Then she noticed her opponent was preparing another attack with a mumble that she could not understand, but she realized that she needed to do something to stop him. That's when she had an idea just as Loki was finishing what could be his incantation. Just when the prince could finish with another spell, Fusa charged forward and, with another summon to Thunder, swung her Keyblade with a Vertical Slash containing a gathering of lightning bolts crackling into a ball and fired it at him. Due to its quick speed and unexpected strength, Loki was struck and then pushed back to one of the pillars behind him with a loud cry, something that worried his observing brother. This stunned him as he struggled to get back up as Fusa witnessed this to her horror. She then hurried over to him and offered a hand to help him up, not knowing if she had done serious damage on him.

"Are you alright?" She asked with concern as the prince noticed the gesture and looked up at her with his green eyes.

"I am used to this, believe me," Loki answered with a sigh as he accepted her hand and allowed her to pull him back up.

But, just as Fusa did this, she felt a stronger jolt of electricity shock her unexpectedly and leave her remain standing with her pupils contracting and widening interchangeably and her braid pointing up from the discharge. She didn't notice Loki smirking mischievously when that happened nor her companions and Thor entering into the field to meet up with them. It was after the shock passed and her braid slumped back down that her right lower eyelid twitched and her head jerked as well, something that surprised both Max and Gus.

"Brother, that was highly uncalled for," Thor scolded his brother as Fusa's Keyblade vanished from sight and the young wielder fell back to be caught by Max, who had to put down her backpack to catch her.

"Do not fret about your new acquaintance, I only congratulated her with a small jolt of my own," Loki responded with a chuckle before making his way out of the field as the warrior prince and the small company watched him maintain his balance as best as he could because of the electric attack. "Moreover, she did it first."

Before Thor could reply, however, he didn't follow after his brother and instead focused on Fusa, who was starting to regain consciousness as her pupils contracted again and she shook her head again. She noticed some drool coming down from the left corner of her mouth before moving to stand straight up again and wiping the drool away. Then she turned to Max, Gus, Meow Wow, and Thor with a sheepish smile to them before she noticed her backpack and picked it back up to put it back on her again.

"You have done well, Young Fusa," Thor spoke to Fusa as Meow Wow's horn glowed once more and healed her again. "Though I will make sure to give you fair warning of Loki's trickery next time. He is known as the God of Mischief for a reason."

"Mischief?" Fusa asked once she heard this as she felt that the cuts were gone, then noticed the prince's hand on her shoulder with a grin.

"Come, let us feast," he then urged to the group as he led them out of the field to leave the Training Grounds, "After all, you are our guests of the palace."

"In that case, consider us honoured now that you mention it," Gus responded as the small group left the Training Grounds with Lady Sif, the Warriors Sif, and Loki following behind them.

* * *

 

Elsewhere in the Palace, two of the Einherjar descended down the stairs to the Weapons Vault based on a claim given to their rulers that one of the artifacts within the Vault has supposedly activated. They remained uneasy as to whether or not the artifact was dangerous now that it "came alive", in their own words, but they didn't mention anything else. All they needed to do was to bring the artifact to their king so that he would examine it further as to whether or not it would be safe enough to handle. They made their way inside of the Vault, passing by numerous artifacts with an iron-rimmed blue casket at the end of the hall until they came across one of them—a golden medallion with three united oval rings at the center that floated over its podium and glowed brightly with the words "Chained Token" on the podium below it. One of the Einherjar took it by its chain carefully with a leather glove due to its hot touch, leading both of them to examine it. Then they noticed something on the back, though they did not know what it was at first due to its bright glow.

As they examined it, however, they heard a clatter close to where the blue casket was and became alarmed with what they saw. Next to the casket was a blue limp figure with a spear for a right hand and a rectangular shield for a left hand, blueish-silver armor, and what looked like a helmet with ram horns. One of the sentries looked over at his companion and gave him a nod of his head to take the Chained Token to the king. Despite the other's hesitance, he nodded wordlessly in return and quickly walked out of the Weapons Vault as the first Einherjar slowly approached the unknown figure. What neither of the sentries knew, however, was that the figure had a breastplate that had an unusual emblem over where the heart would be, blank yellow eyes, and a frozen grin on its face. The moment that the Einherjar saw what the figure was, the only thought he had before his heart was removed was that he should have left with his fellow sentry out of the Vault.


	19. Chapter 18: Asgard- Brotherhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still in Asgard, Fusa becomes conflicted on revealing to Max and Gus as to what she really is and Thor becomes conflicted if he made the right choice. However, time is of the essence as the Heartless would strike...

After the small group followed Thor and his friends out of the Training Grounds and into the hallways of the palace, Fusa carried her backpack on her back with Meow Wow by her side and Max ahead of her with Gus sitting on his shoulder. No one within the tiny group spoke as they walked while Thor's own companions, Loki being the notable exception, talked amongst each other as if they were by blood as well. It was not long until the two groups arrived at another room, the Mess Hall as Fusa's own group would come to find out as to what it was called, with a single table prepared for them. This particular table, as Fusa and her friends noticed, was filled from one end to the other with plentiful food and gauntlets filled with drink, leaving the three in awe of the sight. Volstagg was eager to arrive at the table as soon as possible, so he made his way over with a grip on Fusa's hand to bring her over as Max and Meow Wow followed suit while Thor took a seat at the end of the table and his brother took another at the side. Once everyone else took their seats at the table, Gus floated from Max's shoulder and to a place on the table where he stood by a golden plate full of food. It was here that Fandral noticed as he took a sip of his drink without a care in the world.

"Ah, our apologizes for not providing a seat to someone of your size, good fellow," he said with a grin as the Gremlin looked over at him. "We hope it's not a problem for you."

"Ah, worry not, Sir Fandral the Dashing! Consider this a stepping stone for the next time a Gremlin comes to visit," Gus assured to the warrior as he moved to his plate and started to try and get his drumstick from his meal.

This caused the warrior to grin with delight from the sight as he returned his attention to his meal without a worry.

As the groups feasted, Thor decided to speak to pass the time; in this case, as Max and Gus noticed as they ate, this was one of the greatest stories of victory in the battlefield from way back when. As the two gave their attention to Thor, Fusa hungrily spoke one of the drumsticks while picking and choosing what to eat with intrigue from the taste of the meat so she minded by the nostalgic tale. Volstagg also consumed whatever he had in his hands with satisfaction. While eating a bit, the young Newborn Nobody noticed her gauntlet and paused from eating a bit before picking it up and looking inside of it curiously. She found that the liquid was a golden color regardless of the gauntlet's own golden color.

"Never had mead from a gauntlet before, young one?" Volstagg inquired to her as he watched her hold the gauntlet and sniff the content in it, finding scents of fermented honey, fruits, grains, and spices.

"Mead?" Fusa asked in return as she looked over at him with curiosity.

"Aye, we consider this the drink of the gods," the hefty warrior responded with a nod of his head as Fusa looked over at the gauntlet again.

It took her a moment to think about it before taking a sip of the drink to taste it. Just as Gus brought his attention to see her taking a sip of the mead, Fusa started to drink all of it down in one gulp. Although her eyes widened in surprise as she finished up the mead, she eventually put the gauntlet down when she was finished as Volstagg watched with pride and saw that she wasn't having any ill effects from the alcohol.

"Now there's the stomach to fit an Asgardian!" The hefty warrior bellowed with laughter as he patted Fusa's back, nearly knocking the wind of her as she let out a small belch from the drink. "Even mere Midgardian mortals cannot handle this form of drink even if they tried!"

"Volstagg, dear friend, I do not doubt your pride," Thor then said to his friend with an amused grin on his face as Fusa and her friends brought their attentions to him while they ate. "Just remember whom was the one that brought our guests here."

"That will be a story for future generations of warriors to come, there is no doubt about that," Fandral concurred in agreement.

After a while of feasting, Max and Gus were starting to get full from the food as Fusa continued to eat and one of the servants had already refilled Fusa's gauntlet with more mead. Meow Wow, which was next to the young Keyblade wielder's seat, was eating some of its Shield Cookies that she had in her backpack in their jars. However, as the conversations started to die down, the young Royal Knight looked over at the warriors and cleared his throat to ask something to the Asgardian warrior prince.

"So Thor... even after, like, a lot of years have passed, do you often watch the other warriors leave?" Max finally asked as he slowed down eating his drumstick a bit.

His question caused the warriors to pause and look over at him before looking over at Thor to see what he would have to say to this. What they saw was that he started to slowly frown as he brought his attention to the young Knight.

"Sir Max, Midgardians have regarded us as immortal deities of the past, but the truth is... even we are not immune to humanity," Thor answered honestly as he kept his hands on the table, "One second we are dining and laughing with mortal warriors, the next we watch as the longboats burn on the lake for Valhalla to welcome them as their eternal reward. Life passes by us before we can even blink. Yet, within our hearts..." He added as he brought a hand over his heart, "Days of glorious battles and memories of times past will never die and become immortal no matter what. That is the gift of brotherhood for you, lads. A form of friendship where even the Norns can never break."

With this answer, the warriors that were at the table nodded amongst each other in agreement as Max nodded to Thor and Gus stood up from his place on the table. Fusa, on the other hand, was surprised to hear such an answer but decided to keep this in mind.

"That is incredible, Your Highness," Gus complimented with an attempt to lift his gauntlet as a toast to the prince. "Of course, as you can plainly see, not all of us can relate to your statement as we don't _look_ like the average Midgardian."

When she heard this, Fusa frowned as she looked over at her friend and started to develop this troubled feeling within her. The thought of Gus and Max not knowing what she really is took over her mind, causing her to avert her attention away from everyone else. This quickly caught the Gremlin, the young Knight, and the Asgardian prince's attention as the young Keyblade wielder hung her head in conflict. Just as any of them could even ask her as to what was wrong, Fusa quickly scooted her chair back from the table before taking her backpack and then running off from the others out of the Mess Hall. Those that witnessed her leave were either concerned or confused. Sif continued to eat without a care as Loki finished his own drink in his gauntlet. Although Gus was unsure as to why his friend had taken off from the room, he and Max looked over at the Asgardian warriors with the shared feeling that they needed to get to her so that they can comfort her.

"Excuse us for a moment, please," Gus then pardoned himself as he floated up from the table and Max got out of his seat as well to join him with Meow Wow catching onto this and leaving its bowl to catch up to them.

It was then that the three left the Mess Hall to search for their friend, leaving the Asgardian warriors be.

"Well, now we know one thing: not every warrior that comes here is fit to dine alongside of Asgardians," Sif finally said nonchalantly as she took a sip of her mead from her gauntlet.

These words made Thor silent and considerate, though he wasn't sure as to what was making him think this way. Nonetheless, he didn't think the same regarding what Sif said.

"Brother, Lady Sif is right," Loki then spoke to his brother to try and get to him as well. "What were you thinking when you brought these outsiders to this realm from the Midgardian piece? What good did you think would come out from bringing them here? You have spent many years building up a friendship with Sif and the Warriors Three, yet you expect to immediately make friends with these outsiders during this time when we are not allowed to leave Asgard. You said it yourself- 'life passes by us before we can even blink'. What makes you think that these three will be different than the rest of the mortal warriors from our past?"

It took Thor a moment to think about what his brother was saying to him, though he was starting to think about what he was beginning to feel in his heart. It was something that he could not explain as it was different from the usual emotions that he's had before.

"Perhaps there is something there for these 'outsiders' that we haven't seen yet," the firstborn prince then answered to his brother as he stood up to leave the Mess Hall to find out about what he was feeling. "If nothing else, brother... then fate would be the answer as to why."

* * *

Outside of the Mess Hall, Fusa darted down the halls of the palace in the hopes that she would clear her head with her hands tightly gripping her backpack straps. She wasn't sure as to how her friends would react to her being a Newborn Nobody. The only thing that she wanted now was some space to herself and time to think, though she wasn't sure as to where to go now. It was then that she found a secluded corner to rest for a moment, nearly slipping as she dashed over to it, before resting against the wall and then catching her breath. Once she caught her breath, she then removed her backpack and took out her map to see as to where she is now and where to go next. As she examined the map closely, Fusa noticed a large room close by on the map and brought it closer to her to double check it. She kept her backpack by her side as she carefully held the map in her hands before closing it up and putting it away, closing her backpack up and putting it back on her back again. It left her thinking as to what would be in the room as she scurried down the hallway to the twin doors with the backpack straps gripped in her hands, not sure if there would be any sentries inside of the room.

What Fusa found was that the twin doors were not only unguarded, but that one of them had been barely open and that its handle was still warm as if it had been used before. She didn't hesitate to enter into the room, though she had to be careful about it. When she entered into the room, however, she noticed the image of a grand tree with bright colored spirals at the ends of its branches and beams of bright light turning white to blue shooting up from the ground and surrounding it. She grew in awe as to what she was seeing before her eyes as she cautiously descended down the stairs and approached the tree and the beams of light with her eyes widening with amazement. She eventually stopped in front of one of the beams of light and trailed her sight to see the tree before her to see what she could examine from a distance.

"What is this room?" She asked herself in a quiet tone as she trailed her attention on the trunk of the grand tree.

Fusa started to brought her attention to see the tree's leaves and found that some of them had either darkened or fell to the ground on the tree's roots in a sickly dark purple. She wasn't sure what to think of this even after bringing her attention away from the leaves and to the top of the tree to find that some of the other leaves had dark purple spots as well. Then she stopped in place when she noticed something unusual at the top, her eyes fixated on what looks like a lone bright blue leaf free of spots. As she stared at this particular leaf, this feeling of yearning and familiarity started to gradually emerge. It was a strange feeling, yet she couldn't fight it; in a way, it just felt natural as if she's seen it before. As she continued to stare at the bright blue leaf, however, her pupils began to dilate and her irises enlarged, covering her entire eyes and turning them into a glossy light magenta color as if she was in a trance. The room around her seemed to have dimmed in darkness with only the bright blue leaf in sight as it started to faintly glow. The leaf's veins started to pulse in an abnormal manner before moving around as if trying to form a shape. As this happened, Fusa unblinkingly slowly brought one hand off of her backpack strap and reach out to the leaf in want to grab it.

"It is an illusion as to what Yggdrasil would look like," an older female voice spoke to Fusa in a warm tone, causing her to snap out of her state as her eyes returned to their normal appearance and the room as it normally was. "Midgardians once believed that the World Tree was really a tree. In truth, they lived in the core of an invisible trunk. It was what they believed and it was how it has always been for many years until we were no longer worshiped."

It was then that Fusa brought her attention to see an older woman sitting on a regal fainting couch in a white dress. The young Nobody was surprised as the woman herself is regal yet had a warmer and gentler composition. It was relaxing, even if she had never seen the woman before. Then again, Fusa figured that, as she thought about it, she might as well speak to the woman.

"I-I didn't hear you enter," the young Keyblade wielder finally said in a sheepish tone.

"I do not blame you for you were captivated by the World Tree before you, so I cannot be mad at that," the older woman softly responded with a warm smile to Fusa. "It is not every day in Asgard receives guests from the outside, less so recently. But based on what I have heard, you and your fellowship are quite different."

Fusa became bewildered when she heard this, causing her to stammer in an attempt to ask a question.

"It's simple, my child- I am Frigga the Queen All-Mother of Asgard," the woman introduced herself once the young Newborn Nobody became quiet again, "And I understand that you have met my sons."

"It's an honour, Your Highness," the young girl responded with an awkward bow, though the queen found this to be charming, before introducing herself in return in spite of a lack of nobility on her part, "My name is Fusa."

The queen found this to be peculiar as Fusa neither mentioned a last name nor the name of where she came forth from. Of course, she also thought of this as intriguing as well.

"Now then, my child," Frigga began to softly asked as she moved to allow Fusa to sit next to her, "What has lead you to the Hall of Science?"

"Well, umm..." the young Keyblade wielder quietly answered as she carefully sat next to the queen. "I feel unsure about something."

"You can tell me," Frigga assured to the young Newborn Nobody as she became intrigued with what the child would say.

"It's my friends, Your Highness," Fusa then humbly confessed to the queen with a twiddle of her fingers. "They don't know what I am. I fear that if I tell them what I really am, then they will see me as an enemy. Yet if I don't, then they will see me as distrustful. I-" She stopped with hesitation when she realized that she would lose the queen's interest. Then she gulped and concluded as she hung her head in shame, "I don't know what to do..."

The queen listened with a warm understanding as she watched Fusa's body language, finding that the young girl was tense with her hands gripping on the cushion of the fainting couch. A person this young was going to feel this way, yet she recognized it all too often. Regardless, she kept a warm smile on her face to try and comfort the young one.

"You care deeply for your friends, my child," the queen then explained to Fusa in a motherly tone, "Sometimes the love of friendship is far greater than any weapon ever produced. However, it is your choice to tell your companions or not. Whichever you choose to do, I have no doubt that they would understand either way."

The young Newborn Nobody brought her head up and looked over at the queen with worry fading from her face and becoming one of surprise instead. This advice made her think that perhaps Frigga was right about this. After a few moments, she made up her mind once she thought about the options presented to her regarding her choice.

"Alright, I'll tell them," Fusa finally said with a quick nod.

"Then go to them," the queen urged to the young Keyblade wielder with a soft smile just as Fusa got onto her feet and stood up, eventually looking over at Frigga again.

"By the way... thank you, Your Highness, for telling me this," the Keyblade wielder thanked the queen with another awkward bow, "I really needed that, yeah." Once she saw the queen nod her head in approval, Fusa quickly made her way out of the room to find her friends.

Frigga, however, watched the young girl leave without a word and only slowly frowned in thought as she stood up as well.

"I suppose that some are braver than others," she said to herself in a soft tone as she made her way out of the room as well. "In this case, you are much braver than I will ever be, young Fusa."

As she left the Hall of Science, however, one of the leaves on the World Tree slowly turned a dark purple and collapsed onto the rooted platform with its pulsing veins reaching to one of the spirals on the end of the branch.

* * *

As she ran down the hall, Fusa noticed a colorful bright blue dot from afar and started to walk over as to see what it was. As she did, the dot vanished and then reappeared in front of her. Much to her surprise, it was actually Meow Wow as it barked, squeaked, and mewed at her with delight, going on its hind feet with a wave of its paws before falling back and then rolling around with its symbol exposed. She couldn't help herself but bend down on her knees and gently rub the Dream Eater's belly with a chuckle.

"Ah, there you are, lass," Gus's voice then spoke up as she looked up to see the Gremlin and Max approaching her and Meow Wow. "We were wondering as to where you ran off to."

Fusa thought about what the Aesir queen had advised her and, as she stood straight up again to face her friends while Meow Wow rolled back onto its feet again and wagged its tail at her, decided to take a chance.

"There's something I need to confess to you guys that I didn't get a chance to tell you," she then said to her friends softly as she thought about what Frigga said to her, "I wasn't sure as to how to tell you this, but I was told by someone that you would understand if I do."

"Sure thing, what is it that you want to tell us?" Max first asked as he and Gus gave their attention to their friend.

"Well... there's a reason why I have these powers as I do now: I'm a Nobody," Fusa then explained softly as she slowly grew nervous with her heart racing a bit. "Or to be precise, a Newborn Nobody. Something that was never meant t' exist. I may have a heart, but I have no memories of my past life to remember nor do I know who I was once or where I even came from. I don't know if I even have family and a home or not. Someone from Organization XIII told me..." She paused for a moment as she saw Max and Gus's expressions turned into surprise and grew unsure if she could continue or not. Yet she knew that she must, so she picked up where she last left off, "Someone from Organization XIII told me that I'm nothing more than a template to make Lesser Nobodies from and that I can't and will never have friends. The first thing I ever have that is a real memory is with friends and I want to hold onto that memory. Now I want to know something from you guys- will you still see me as who I am and not for what I am? You are the greatest friends I've ever met and I don't want to lose you at all."

It took both Max and Gus to process this information as they looked at each other in surprise, though Fusa noticed that their expressions did not turn negative as this was going on. After a few minutes, they brought their attention to her with their expressions turning into relief with smiles forming on their faces before they approached her. Gus is the first arrive at her with a pat on one of her shoulders as Max did the same as well on her other shoulder, much to her own surprise when this happened to her.

"You guys aren't mad at me?" Fusa asked as Max and Gus kept their attention to her even when she looked over at them.

"How can we be mad, Fusa?" Gus then responded before explaining logically to her, "Why, you've opened yourself up to us as a friend entrusting information to us that no one else would accept. Not to mention, we were not unaware of this Organization XIII and never will had you not told us. For that, we're proud of you for that."

"Not to mention, like, what you are doesn't matter to us but it's what you do that is more important to us," Max added in agreement as Fusa looked over at him when she heard him say this. "Besides, you've been a good friend to us as well and we couldn't ask for anything else."

Fusa then started to give a soft smile towards them with a warm feeling towards them before gently their hands with her own.

"Thank you guys," she softly said to them with a nod of her head. "Thank you so much for this."

"Well, now that we're all together again, how about we return to our quarters and catch some shut-eye for tomorrow?" Gus then suggested to them as he realized that it was getting dark outside. "Besides, Thor would suggest it later in case we need to return to the Training Room tomorrow morning. Regardless, the realm of sleep awaits up."

Once it was agreed from the suggestion, this allowed the reunited group and the Meow Wow to walk down the hallway together as friends. Unbeknownst to them, the Asgardian queen was silently watching this unfold through a slightly opened door. She witnessed the young Newborn Nobody speak to her companions and was thankful that neither the dog-faced boy nor the smaller air creature became spiteful. It was not until after they were out of sight that the queen stepped out of the room and made her way down the hall to head to her own chambers to rest for the night. As she did, however, she was quickly approached by a sentry as his panicked expression made her concerned even after noticing something clutching in his hands.

"Is there something the matter?" Frigga asked as the Einherjar nodded to her.

"My queen, the Weapons Vault has been broken into," he urgently explained to her as he looked around a bit with paranoia. "It was a creature that could be one of the shadow monsters we were warned about by Lord All-Father. It might be after the Chained Token." It was then that he handed her the leather glove that held the Chained Token.

"Tell the guards to relocate the Vault's contents as quickly and safely as they can if the creature is after the rest of the artifacts as well and close off all entryways into the Vault," the queen then commanded as she moved to the hallway with the sentry, "We need to keep the creature away from the doors and to the Destroyer's sight if it means to prevent it from getting out. Asgard must be protected at all costs."

"What of Lord All-Father, my queen?" The sentry asked with worry.

"Leave him to me," Frigga answered before leaving the hallway and allowing the sentry to hurry away to pass the orders forward. "I must remind him to not lose his temper and see red."

* * *

Inside of her guest chambers, Fusa removed her shoes and her backpack to place them by the vanity desk with Meow Wow entering into the room as well once Max and Gus went into their own as well. She was thinking about what has happened in the Hall of Science when she saw the lone bright blue leaf on the World Tree. The only logical conclusion that she came up with was that she was simply captivated by the World Tree like the Aesir queen said. It made sense after all, she figured as she sat on the fur-covered bed and laid down on her back. She then stared up at the ceiling in thought, contemplating as to whether or not it's true before slowly drifting off to sleep. Just as she closed her eyes, however, she was awakened by an object jumping on the bed by the side. Much to her relief, it was only Meow Wow as it was pawing next to her before laying next to her. She softly smiled before curling up on her side and then gently petting it, hearing the Spirit lightly snore and snort.

"At least I'll sleep soundly," Fusa whispered to herself before closing her eyes to sleep.

A few hours later, the young Newborn Nobody started to stir again with restlessness as she carefully sat up and found Meow Wow curling up on her pillow by her head. She rubbed the back of her neck as she got out of bed and made her way over to find a window revealing a luscious sight of bright stars of different colors before her, leaving her in awe of it all. However, she wondered if this was the Sea of Stars that she saw outside of the Gummi Ship window the first time she was in the Gummi _Excalibur_. She figured that the distance is important, but no less awe-inspiring.

"For each star that shine in the nighttime sky, we are gifted with guidance from the Realms above and by those who have passed onto the afterlife," a voice said to her, surprising her as she noticed a man in golden armor and with golden eyes next to her. "The importance of stars remain the highest above all." The man brought his attention to the young Newborn Nobody as he then removed his helmet and caused it to vanish before her eyes, though she was surprised to see him. "I believe we have not met until now," he then said to her as he gave her a calm yet regal bow. "I am Heimdall, Gatekeeper of the Bifrost. I was the one that the prince has called upon when he brought you and your companions here. You must be Fusa the Newborn Nobody."

"Yeah, but how did you know my name and what I am?" She asked with astonishment as she approached him in amazement.

"I know what you are, young one," the Gatekeeper then explained to Fusa as she listened to him. "But I understand why you were hesitant to explain it. It is not easy to ever explain anything being hunted down by those that look down on you." When he saw that she was examining him with her light pink eyes, he only gave a small chuckle and said to her, "I know what you are looking at and let me assure you that it is not the first time someone has noticed."

"What? No, I was looking at your eyes," she then clarified quickly with honesty as she shook her head. "They're... shiny."

This response surprised Heimdall, but he was amused by this clarification.

"That's a first for me," he then responded as he brought his attention to the stars again to which Fusa did the same.

"So Mr. Heimdall... do you still remember what happened before my friends and I were brought here?" She then asked as she looked out to the stars and thought about it.

"Aye," the Gatekeeper answered before explaining calmly, "I remember each world being ravaged by the shadow creatures and many a star going out like a candle. When I reported to the All-Father of this, he consulted in the vǫlva for answers of what these creatures were. The vǫlva answered, 'The creatures emerge from the Darkness in search of hearts to feast upon and will sniff out the entrance to the core of the world. They will not stop until the entire cosmos is swallowed in a pitch substance which can never be removed unless vanquished by a Key in time. Unless a Key is discovered and used to vanquish the creatures, my king, then Asgard will be among the worlds destroyed by Darkness.' The All-Father did not wish to take chances with finding keys that can destroy the creatures and, as a result, he decreed to put Asgard into a state of isolationism to protect it from these creatures. Even when his queen was telling him that the rest of the Nine Realms would be taken over by the creatures, the All-Father only responded that Asgard must not dabble in the other Realms' disasters.

"Thor first obeyed this command until one day a year ago, I first noticed a young boy not unlike yourself wielding a weapon like the one you wield. I observed carefully as he fought off creatures with great strength and a great heart, but I knew that the All-Father would not accept an outsider to come to Asgard. When Thor found out about what the vǫlva told the king, he requested to go to the Midgardian piece where the creatures resided to prove that he can fight them off without a Key. I was reluctant, but I accepted the request and sent him to the piece where I watched from my Observatory as he fought valiantly. Yet it was not enough as the creatures kept returning to where he would be.

"Over time, the more Thor visited the Midgardian piece, the more the All-Father became frustrated by his disobedience and enforced restrictions on his son from returning. Again, Thor disobeyed his father and continued to go to the Midgardian piece even after the young boy with the Key had vanished from my sight and even after the piece was being restored. Throughout this time, his companions, his brother, and his mother expressed worry for him as men have fallen from the creatures' attacks and feared that he would be next. Then he met you and your fellowship while on his latest visit."

Fusa brought her attention over to Heimdall with a look of surprise when she heard him say this. He nodded his head a bit as if in response to her wordless question before looking over at the sky again.

"If the vǫlva's words are truth, then we will be prepared," he then concluded even as the young Newborn Nobody kept her attention to him.

"But I don't think I would be..." she responded with an unsure feeling.

"You might be surprised yourself," he replied to her again without worry.

* * *

Within his Observatory connected to the Rainbow Bridge at the edge of Asgard, Heimdall had a projected image of Fusa above a blue flame in a large double-handed bowl shown in front of him, though he was looking out into space from a circular window in the building. He watched a bit as the projection of the young one turned her head away from him and looked at the cosmos again, though he didn't ask her anything else. It took him a moment to think about what he would say to her until he found something to speak to her again.

"It will be dawn soon, young one," he said to her as the young Newborn Nobody looked over at him with big light pink eyes that blinked a total of three times in quick succession. "You should get your rest now."

"Understood, Mr. Heimdall," Fusa responded to Heimdall with a nod before the projection dissolved and the blue flame stopped burning, leaving him be.

As soon as this was over, he moved to put his helmet back on so that he would return to his duty when he paused a bit and didn't change his stoic expression a bit.

"Could not sleep, my lord?" He asked as he turned his head to see Thor approaching him with his white horse waiting outside.

"I was thinking about what Loki told me earlier today," the warrior prince answered as he stood next to the Gatekeeper. "Perhaps I was a fool to think to bring the young one and her companions here on impulse..."

"Perhaps not, my lord," the Gatekeeper pointed out calmly as he raised one of his eyebrows at the prince. "Your father may be the king, but what you did was what your heart wanted you to do. Is it a sin to do what is right for others and not yourself? Someday, when you become king yourself, you'll realize this."

Thor, on the other hand, remained silent as he looked out into the cosmos in contemplation of his actions. He didn't want to think himself as less strong to think this way, though he wasn't sure why his heart was acting this way. He only hoped that the stars would have an answer even if he knew that stars could not speak at all. Just as Heimdall turned his attention to the Rainbow Bridge, however, he stopped and his expression became one of disbelief and possibly horror. This caught Thor's attention as he hurried over to the Gatekeeper when he realized that this was not like him at all.

"Heimdall, what is the matter?" The prince asked with his hands on the Gatekeeper's arms as soon as he went in front of him.

"It can't be..." Heimdall answered as his golden eyes remained focused on the Asgardian palace. "The Weapons Vault is unguarded, the artifacts dirtied with dark residue, the Destroyer has not been activated, and the Einherjar has been attacked by these creatures as they could not successfully defeat them and their hearts are torn out of their bodies. Some of the exact same ones from the Midgardian piece, but then there are others that I have not yet seen before... I do not know how they got into the palace, but they're heading out to the Training Grounds where the other warriors are at."

Thor grimaced at the sound of this, though he knew that he must get Fusa and her friends as he knew that they can tackle this situation than the sentries would. It was then that he rushed to his horse and mounted on it so that he would hurry to the palace to get the young Keyblade wielder and her companions to the Training Grounds.

"I'll wake the guests and alert them on what is going on; we must not let the creatures take over this Realm," He then said to Heimdall before riding away on his horse as it galloped on the Rainbow Bridge away from the Observatory, allowing the Gatekeeper to nod and defend the building with his sword ready in case he needed to fight.

* * *

Before dawn came to bring forth a new day, as Fusa was still sleeping soundly with Meow Wow still resting on her pillow with its plump body pressing on the top of her head, they were awakened by a loud knock at the guest chamber door. The Dream Eater woke up first while the young Newborn Nobody stirred and slowly sat up with a tired yawn.

"Young Fusa, come out! This is of most urgency," Thor's voice bellowed through the door as she heard this with a growing troubled feeling and made her way to get her backpack and her shoes on, slipping them on as Meow Wow joined her before she tightened the knot at the bottom of her braid to keep it together. "There's no time to waste!"

Although she was tired, she made it to the door with Meow Wow bouncing off of the bed and over to her side just as she was opening the door with as much strength as she could to give it. Once she opened the door, she found that not only was Thor waiting, but also Max and Gus as well, to which she stepped out with a restrained yawn.

"Thor, what's going on?" Fusa asked as she rubbed one eye a bit before looking at him.

"I will tell all, but we must hurry to the Training Grounds at once," he then advised to the small group before turning and, wielding Mjolnir in his hand, hurrying away down the hallway. In his leave, Fusa and Meow Wow hurried away first with Max and Gus following suit with this troubled feeling growing bigger every second.

As the small group hurried down the hall, they could hear faint screaming echoing from one of the rooms and shivered a bit when they felt an unusual drop in temperature despite the midsummer appearance. Fusa herself jolted herself awake when she pinched herself awake to avoid drifting off into sleep, though the slight cool temperature made her skin crawl. By the time the small group arrived to the double doors of the Training Grounds, Thor grimaced when he noticed that the doors were icy cold and that they emitted an unusual scent that Meow Wow caught as it slowed down. Another thing that the group noticed was the lack of guards in front of the doors, something that the warrior prince found unusual as he attempted to open the double doors to no avail. He stepped back with clenched teeth as he felt frostbite on his hands until he looked over at Fusa to see if she could do it. The young Keyblade wielder saw his attention over to her and was confused at first until Gus went over to her.

"Use your Keyblade to open the doors," the Gremlin then quickly clarified when he figured out what his friend needed to do. "It'll open anything!"

With this information given to her, Fusa realized as to what she needed to do before summoning her Keyblade into her right hand and then pointing the tip of her weapons to the middle of the sealed double doors. Suddenly, a keyhole symbol appeared in front of the group and caused a thin light pink beam to come out of the tip, firing at the keyhole symbol. When this happened, the ice started to melt away and caused the double doors to open, though it let out cries of distress and pain from the inside. The sounds concerned the group as they quickly hurried inside and then stopped to notice an unforgettable sight before their very eyes.

Inside of the Training Grounds was a small batch of Shadows and Soldiers attacking some of the warriors as other warriors attempted to vanquish the creatures. Neither Sif nor Loki nor the Warriors Three were there to be seen or consulted on as the warriors were scratched and ambushed by the Heartless. Some had their hearts torn out followed by a transformation into blue limp figures with swords, spears, and shields fused on the stumps of their wrists and the Heartless emblem on their breastplates. Those that attempted to rid the room of the Heartless found that the vanquish is brief and that they could not defeat them completely, to their dismay and surprise.

Fusa didn't move one inch as she, her friends, and Thor witnessed the ambush as the amount of warriors lessened while the Heartless grew in numbers. The young Newborn Nobody didn't know as to why the Heartless have come here, but there was no time to waste. It was then that Thor brought his hammer out and ready while Max prepared his Skateboard Shield as well. This snapped Fusa back to reality as she watched the warrior prince and the young Royal Knight charge towards the slowly growing amount of Heartless to fight them. She eventually brought her Keyblade up and ready before charging towards the Heartless with Gus and Meow Wow following suit. When they noticed the group, the Heartless that attacked the warriors brought their attention to them and, in a feral state, rushed towards them to attack. Some of the blue limp Heartless readied their own weapons as well, though the Shadows crawled on the ground to surround the small group.

Fusa then moved first to make a Horizontal Slash at one of the blue Heartless, knocking it away from the struggling warrior and vanquishing it. The warrior's eyes widen with shock when he noticed the heart-shaped teeth of the Keyblade; however, Fusa brought her attention back to the Heartless as her eyes glowed a light pink again, allowing her to examine the conditions of the warriors' hearts. Some of the warriors that were struck had their hearts forced into Darkness as these hearts crumbled while a few other hearts were cracking at an escalated rate. This made her alarmed from the possibility of being too late, but she knew that she must try to save them. So Fusa dashed forward with a few strikes on the blue Heartless, concentrating on mending the damaged hearts while vanquishing the Heartless with her Keyblade. When she did, a few of the warriors got up and collected their weapons to fight. Thor, on the other hand, struck down the Heartless with his hammer using physical attacks and the element of Thunder, making sure that they stay vanquished. With Max, he tossed his Skateboard Shield at some of the Heartless like a boomerang and used it to cut them down as well as doing the same as the warrior prince did. As for Gus and Meow Wow, the Gremlin was hiding under a bench and writing down his observations regarding the blue Heartless, to which he called the "Einburrjar", while the Dream Eater was watching this going on and wagging its tail.

During the fight, one of the Einburrjar thrust its spearhead at Fusa, causing her to bring her arm up to block it; she winced when she felt that the blade of the spearhead was rough and jagged. Puffs of Darkness emitted out of the wound, but it did not infect her or sink under her skin and instead only left a frostbitten cut on her arm, much to her shock. This shock wore off and her eyes glowed a light pink, allowing her to take control of this Heartless momentarily so that it would remove the spearhead from her arm. When the spearhead was removed from her arm, the glow faded and she quickly vanquished the Einburrjar, which left behind Heart Orbs and Munny for her to collect. She looked over to see Thor fighting as well with some Einburrjar charging at him as her eyes glowed again, which caused the glow to appear around his body. With an increase in endurance and strength, the warrior valiantly fought against the charging Heartless and victoriously defeated them as Fusa resumed fighting some as well. The glow faded again, though he only shrugged it off as it was little concern for him.

It took the group some time to clear out the Heartless in the Training Grounds, but it was not an easy task to complete. As she was finishing up vanquishing the Heartless in the room and collecting Health, Magic, and Heart Orbs as well as Munny that were dropped, one of the warriors approached Thor as he carried an injured sentry as Meow Wow was coming out from under the seat and then using Cure on her and Max with a Shield Cookie as its reward.

"My lord, we're too late... They've come..." the sentry spoke as he hung his head in shame and Fusa and her friends went over to join him with Gus getting out from under the bench as well with the journal and a pen in his hands.

"You've done all that you can, my friend," Thor assured to the Einherjar with a hand on his shoulder. "Where are my friends and my brother?"

"Lady Sif and the Warriors Three have gone out to fight off the creatures, my lord," the sentry answered as he winced in pain, "As for Loki, we do not know where he has gone off to."

It was then that the sentry that was keeping him up explained to Thor as he kept his grip on his fellow guard, "The first of the creatures was spotted near the Casket of Ancient Winters in the Weapons Vault when another sentry and I were in there by the All-Father's orders, my lord. I left to alert the king of what we found, but I found out that the other sentry was not very lucky and became one of the creatures as well. I was given orders to relocate the artifacts and isolate the creature so that the Destroyer would take care of it, but by the time I and the others arrived, we were too late. More of the creatures appeared in the Vault before we got a chance to close the doors and then escaped while Lady Sif and the Warriors Three were preparing for morn. They spilled out into the rest of the Realm as a larger blue beast charged out of the shadows and led more grotesque much similar to the ones we saw. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three moved to lead separate armies to fight off the creatures on their own, but we fear that they did not make it. We are outnumbered and weaker in strength, my lord..."

"But we have this one," Thor responded with renewed confidence as he placed a hand on Fusa's shoulder, which caused the sentry to look over at her and her friends. "Let us not give up quite yet."

Fusa brought her attention up to him with a look of surprise on her face when he mentioned this, but Max and Gus nodded in agreement as the warriors brought their attentions to the group now that they were aware of what the young Keyblade wielder can do against the creatures.

"Come, fellow warriors and brothers in arms," Thor then roused the doubtful warriors with a boost in confidence, "We vowed to protect Asgard, did we not? Either we fight these creatures or die trying and enter into Valhalla. As you are aware now, this battle will not be like the rest in legends past, but future generations will tell stories of this day and days to come. It's time we stand and fight back, for we will show these monsters that they possess no power over us!" Then he raised his hammer in the air and bellowed in a battle cry, "For Asgard!"

This caused the warriors to gain their confidence and raise their weapons high in the air with the battle cry "For Asgard!" in triumphant unison and repeated it a few times with triumph each time. Fusa was amazed by this, but Max and Gus took their respective Skateboard Shield and wrench out and raised them in the air as well even if they did not make the same battle cry. It took Fusa a few seconds to understand what was going on and then raise her Keyblade in the air in solitary, though she didn't make the battle cry as well. Once Thor saw Fusa and her friends joining him and the Einherjar, he grinned and gave his approval for the sentries to head out of the Training Grounds to fight. The only one that did not head out to battle was the one that held his injured fellow man as he took the sentry to the Healing Room when he was in no proper state to once again fight the creatures. This only leaves Thor, Fusa, and her friends in the Training Grounds by themselves before they began to head out to battle as well as they hurried down the hallway to wipe the creatures away.

"This will not be a simple battle if there is more of these creatures," Thor then said to Fusa and her friends as they headed to the exit of the hallway, "I will join you to ensure the safety of you all and of Asgard. My hammer, your blade, and your talents will be what this Realm needs to be protected."

"The sentry mentioned this Casket of Ancient Winters," Gus said as the crown prince brought his attention to the Gremlin, "What significance does it have that the Heartless would want to go after it?"

"My father took it in the war with Frost Giants of Jotunheim," Thor then answered as Fusa checked her backpack for anything that either she or her party would need, "It is the source for the Frost Giants' powers, passed down from their ancestors in Niflheim all the way back to Ymir, the first in existence of time. Father once called it the 'Heart of All Jotunheim and Niflheim-Bound Frost Giants', though this could still be true. Why do you ask, Sir Gus?"

"If this Casket of Ancient Winters is the 'Heart of All Frost Giants', then it's possible that the Heartless have identified it as the Keyhole of this world," Gus explained in return as Thor furrowed his eyebrows at the thought. "All worlds have a Keyhole, which is the gateway to their heart. If the Heartless go through the Keyhole, they will consume the heart of the world and plunge that very world in the Realm of Darkness."

"Then we must prevent Asgard from being consumed," the warrior prince responded as he quickly understood this. "This is much worse than we realize." Fusa's eyes widened from the severity of the situation as she remembered what Heimdall told her the night before, realizing that the person that the All-Father consulted regarding the Heartless problem was telling the truth.

It was then that the group hurried outside into the Aesir Courtyard and came upon a dirty ground across a broken ledge covered with Shadows, Soldiers, Behemoth Runts, and Einburrjar causing destruction everywhere. Fusa froze as her light pink eyes scanned the destruction from the safe distance; Thor, on the other hand, clenched his teeth and gripped the handle of Mjolnir and Max held his Skateboard Shield. This caused her to realize that she needs to do this before readying her Keyblade.

"I am going to need that courage now..." She then muttered under her breath as the party prepared themselves to fight.


	20. Chapter 19- Asgard: Invasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Asgard is ambushed by the Heartless without warning, it is up to Fusa and her party, now joined by Thor, to fight them off and get Lady Sif and the Warriors Three to safety. However, they find that the invasion of Heartless on the realm is not as easy as they thought it was...

When news broke out that the dark creatures were now in Asgard, the king sent out his finest warriors and guards to deal with the situation. However, as a precaution, he also ordered that the Asgardian citizens were to evacuate to the palace as their sanctuary until the state of the realm is taken care of, though the possibility that the creatures consuming them all became a likely outcome if all else fails. It was within the Throne Room itself that Odin gripped his golden spear in his right hand as he paced back and forth when he did not see either his sons or their friends. He could not understand why the dark creatures spilled out into Asgard when the realm itself was supposed to be safe and therefore isolated, so he grew exasperated from the lack of understanding. His queen, on the other hand, remained calm as she held the Chained Token wrapped in the leather glove in her hands. Although she was concerned for her sons' safety, she held out hope for them and their companions to protect Asgard. Then there was the citizens that were lucky enough to escape being attacked by the creatures that destroyed their homes and their livelihoods, though some were devastated by the loss of their loved ones in the evacuation to the palace. Knowing that they would be in the Throne Room with no end date in sight, Odin ordered servants to provide food and warmth for the citizens to make them feel safe and welcome in a dark time.

In the tension of the wait, everyone heard a loud knock on one of the twin doors and brought their attentions over to it. Odin then looked over to two of the Einherjar and gave them a nod of his head, permitting them to move ahead to the twin doors and see who is there. One of them readied his sword as the other cracked the door open to see who or what was outside of it. Much to the sentries' relief and surprise, Loki was there panting softly as he was missing a golden gauntlet from his left arm and his sleeve up to his elbow was ripped away, leaving behind a few painful scratches on his bare arm. The sentry at the door quickly moved and helped his prince inside of the room just as Loki fell to his knees with incoherent mutterings and a look of fear. Frigga noticed her son as she placed the wrapped Chained Token and hurried over to him, gently wrapping her arms around him to comfort his trembling body.

"Mother..." Loki gasped as he wrapped his good arm around his mother and nearly broke into tears in dread, "It's madness out there- the creatures- the-they somehow got inside..."

"It's alright, my son," Frigga gently assured to him as she shushed him and helped him up, leading him away from the twin doors and over to the stairs close to the king's throne passing by the crowd to do so. "You're safe now, and that is all that matters for now."

"But Thor is still out there, mother," he started to protest as he looked over at Frigga with concern. "What if he-"

"Leave Thor be to deal with this, Loki," the king finally advised as he looked over at his wife and younger son, thinking about the chaos outside when the windows to the world were closed off. "This is his duty as heir to the throne to handle situations like this. It is also his responsibility to undo this madness that he has brought to Asgard. 'Tis this wretched outsiders that have doomed this realm ever since they arrived from the Midgardian piece. If they are held responsible for bringing these dark creatures and causing destruction on our people and our home, then I will see to it that they are executed immediately."

* * *

As the small group hurried towards the Heartless within the Aesir Courtyard, Fusa kept her Keyblade ready as Thor swung his hammer and Max carried his Skateboard Shield in his gloved hands. The Heartless saw this before them and a cluster of them left the area while the rest charged at them like feral animals. One of the Shadows pounced up towards Fusa, but she stopped in her tracks and knocked it away with the teeth of her Keyblade, vanquishing it. Thor and Max, who were already ahead of her, started to knock a few Heartless away with their weapons as Gus took refuge in Fusa's hood and Meow Wow caught up to the small party. The young Keyblade wielder charged forth with slashes of her "Gentle Heart" and a Sliding Dash forward on some of the Einburrjar. As she struck one of the Heartless, however, the single Einburrjar thrust its spear tip at her, leaving a serrated gash on her arm with frostbite forming around the fresh wound. Although it stung like before, Fusa realized that it was not too deep and then grabbed the spear with her left hand to pull it out. The touch did hurt and left another frostbitten area on the palm of her hand. Luckily, her Meow Wow noticed this and used Cure on the frostbites even if she did not notice at first and resumed fighting the other Einburrjar as her body glowed and allowed her Heart powers to Shatter their tainted hearts.

As he was fighting some Heartless as well, Max made a yelp when he felt pushed to the ground by a rough force. This caused Fusa and her Meow Wow to hear his cry and look over to see that a few Einburrjar riding on the backs of the Behemoth Runts like they did as loyal warriors on their steeds. Thor, as he noticed this as well, only made an amused chuckle by the sight before remembering that these were Heartless and then returning to fight off the creatures. Eventually, the batch of Heartless in the area were decreasing in numbers as the small party continued to weed them out some more with Heart Orbs, Health Orbs, Magic Orbs, and Munny spilling out upon their vanquish until they were all defeated. This allowed the party to gather up the spoils as Fusa absorbed the Heart Orbs to bring her powers back to normal strength as well as the other Orbs for the frostbitten wounds to heal and for her Thunder magic in her Keyblade to be increased.

Once everyone's injuries were healed by absorbed Health Orbs and Meow Wow's Cure and Fusa's Keyblade vanished from her right hand, the small group examined their surroundings to see if there was anything other Heartless around or anything else as well.

"Hey, Gus? Is there anything on these Heartless that we should know right now?" The young Royal Knight asked as the Gremlin got out of Fusa's hood and sat down on her shoulder.

"Based on my observation from the battle in the Training Grounds and the recent one here," Gus began to explain as he kept his journal open to examine his writing, "The batches of Emblem Heartless thus documented so far- the surviving Behemoth Runts from Hollow Bastion and the newly dispatched Einburrjar- have showcased Blizzard attacks. Now lads, if Thor's information regarding the Casket of Ancient Winters is correct and my intuition is on the mark, then it is possible that the first of the Emblem Heartless had absorbed some of the Casket's power and harvested it to have Blizzard magic before spreading it to newly created Heartless and dividing it up as the numbers increased."

"Is it really possible?" Thor then asked even as Fusa appeared lost on the explanation given by Gus.

"There is a chance that I could be wrong," the Gremlin only confessed with doubt.

It was then that the small party looked over at Fusa for her input on the matter as she wields the Keyblade. In spite of her hesitance and a clear lack of a plan, she gave them a nod of her head as confirmation that she somewhat understood the situation. Soon, the small party brought their attentions to the areas before them as a sense of dead came over them. The temperature around them grew cold with winter overlapping summer warmth as Fusa lightly shivered a bit and gently rubbed her exposed arms with her hands to keep herself warm. Thor himself grimaced with the possibility that Gus could be right so he looked over at his new party members and they brought their attentions over to him in return.

"We must head out if we have a chance to save Asgard and everyone that lives here," the warrior prince then advised to them before pointing his hammer at Fusa, much to her shock, "Young Fusa will lead the way as she can vanquish the 'Heart-less' with her blade and I will take care of identifying our locations."

The young Newborn Nobody tensed up with anxiety from the suggestion and the idea of Max and Gus being imperiled again because of her came to mind again; it was something that she wasn't sure that she would accept. Without a word, however, she swallowed her fears and simply nodded her head to Thor before stepping forward to take the lead, though with each step she took, her dread slowly exposed itself. With a shaky sigh, she then looked over to Thor first and then to Max and Gus as they and Meow Wow looked forward. She realized that they were now relying on her to move forward. After a few moments of thinking about it, Fusa summoned her Keyblade into her right hand and focused forward ahead of her.

"Let's go, yeah," she finally said before making a sprint ahead with Meow Wow by her side and her party following behind.

* * *

As they hurried out of the Aesir Courtyard, the party noticed that the area surrounding them was dead silent with no one else in plain sight. However, they did notice splotches of black residue all around them, including forward ahead on their path, that covered armor pieces that were ripped apart and fallen weapons. None of them did not want to risk going near these splotches, so they hurriedly avoided the residue in their dash away from the Courtyard. Gus floated faster to Fusa's hood and then dived into it again so that he would not worry about the dangerous moments; although Max noticed this when he looked over at the young Keyblade wielder, he decided not to question it as this was nothing new to him.

"Thor, where are we heading to right now?" The young Knight asked as the party saw a slanted broken wall ahead of them.

"Beyond this wall is the path to the Pillars of the Norns and then to the Sacred Ruins after that," the warrior prince answered as they drew closer.

It was then that Fusa brought her hands on the slanted wall and jumped over feet-first before taking off away from it as Thor stepped over it, Max followed suit, and Meow Wow bounced over it. As they made their way to the Pillars of the Norns, where three elongated statues of cloaked women holding strands of thread around their fingers and extending their arms out to stretch the strands out stood across from each other in a triangular formation with water ripple patterns surrounded them on the ground, the small party noticed a lone figure in the area. Max carefully brought his goggles over his eyes and tweaked the lenses to look further at to who was there.

"Guys, I see Hogun fighting some Heartless up ahead at the Pillars," the young Knight said to the other party members as they grew close before lifting his goggles up to see again, "But he's losing the fight because there's this one Heartless that is really big."

"Big as the Bilgesnipe?" Thor asked with a grin from this before responding and gripping his hammer, "This will be fun."

It was then that the party arrived at the Pillars of the Norns and prepared their weapons to fight the Heartless here- a clump of restless Shadows that were reforming ripped apart limbs from Hogun's mace as well as a few Einburrjar with dented armor and injuries and one large Heartless that was very beastly with white as snow fur, dark blue ram horns with sharp icicle antlers that grew like branches and dripped, and a long spiked tail. Fusa noticed this new Heartless as Gus climbed out of her hood and jotted down something in his journal before going over to Hogun, leading him away from the upcoming scuffle with Meow Wow following suit. The young Keyblade wielder summoned her Keyblade into her right hand as she examined the Shadows and Einburrjar as well. Her mind quickly ran as she tried to think of a plan while Max and Thor combated with a few of the Heartless. With Hogun, he watched carefully with Gus as soon as Meow Wow used its Cure to heal his wounds that he received in his own fight.

That's when Fusa noticed a circular pillar between two of the elongated statues and formed an idea, allowing her to combat the Einburrjar first with a few swings from her Keyblade first, which caused two of them to spill out Health Orbs, Magic Orbs, Heart Orbs and a bit of Munny that she would collect. She returned her attention to the beastly Heartless before taking off to the circular pillar with her body starting to glow a bit. The light pink glow caught the creature's attention and caused it to charge after her, allowing her to lure it away from her party members and the smaller Heartless. Once she got to the pillar, Fusa then used the teeth of her Keyblade to hook around the pillar with momentum and then catapult herself from it, making a swing at the large Heartless that sliced off one of its antlers and attached horns and leaving a deep cut at the root of the removed ram horn. However, she lost her footing on her landing and fell back, much to her embarrassment as she hastily got to her feet again. The Heartless shook its head and snarled at her as it brought its attention over to her now that she was standing again. But just as it was charging at her, Fusa brought herself to go after the creature in return with her Keyblade ready. With a combo of a Sliding Dash, a Vertical Slash, and a Thrust, she was able to vanquish the beastly Heartless. In the process, however, the Heartless brought its other antler to one of her arms, piercing it and then leaving a frostbitten wound behind.

After a bit of time of fighting and vanquishing this one batch of Heartless, the area was now clean with only lifeless splotches surrounding them and spoils left behind for the small party to collect. Once the Orbs were absorbed and the Munny was collected, Gus and Meow Wow brought Hogun over to join Fusa, Max, and Thor; the stoic warrior looked around him with furrowed eyebrows over at the mess within the area before bringing his attention over to the small party and retracting the spikes of his mace back into the weapon itself.

"Hogun, my friend," Thor began to speak to the other warrior in a sincere tone, "Does Father know about this?"

"Aye," Hogun only answered with a low grunt and a nod of his head. "The All-Father received word of the creatures from the Queen and ordered not only myself, but also Lady Sif, Sir Fandral, Sir Volstagg, and your brother to flush them out of the Palace. When Heimdall alerted to us that the creatures were out of the Weapons Vault, he pinpointed their precise locations to all five of us after he informed you. We had to evacuate those within the perimeters of the locations, but some were not very lucky. The creatures attacked anyone that it got near- civilians, sentries, anyone- and metamorphosed them into their own kind. No matter what we tried to do, these creatures kept respawning when our weapons could not keep them down. Truthfully, we are unsuccessful in attempting to defeat them."

"Is there anything else we should know?" Thor asked again as the party listened carefully.

"Aye, Thor- the All-Father believes that the outsiders are responsible for bringing the creatures," Hogun added as he brought his attention over to Fusa and her friends, to which Thor did the same with disbelief, before looking over at his friend again. "Yet the events that have transpired here negated this assumption. I do not believe that they would bring creatures like these to the Realm. They are not the type to endanger other lives without any motivation."

This made Fusa concerned when Hogun mentioned this until she remembered what Heimdall had spoken to her the previous night. She wondered about it as she brought her attention to the other party members and to Hogun again. Thor, on the other hand, only nodded as he kept his attention on his friend when he heard this as well. He could not understand why his father would come to this conclusion if he had not seen either Fusa or her friends. But there was no time to contemplate yet; he must focus on the situation first.

"Thank you, Hogun," Thor then said to his friend as he placed a hand on Hogun's shoulder before pulling his hand away. "We will take it from here. Return to the palace and defend it for our king."

Hogun only wordlessly nodded to his friend before readying his mace, giving a nod of thanks to the small party, and then dashing to the Asgardian Palace without any time to waste. Fusa was the only one to watch him leave as Thor, Max, and Gus moved ahead to the path before them. It took her a few seconds to actually react to her party members rushing forward, to which she brought her attention to them and then hurried over to join them. As soon as she was with them again, Thor slowed down to a stop and gave her a nod to permit her to go first as Max and Gus gave her a confident nod so that she would feel comfortable. Fusa, now given the understanding from her friends, readied her Keyblade and charged forward first before her party and Meow Wow followed behind.

* * *

In their venture away from the Pillars of the Norns, the small party noticed that there were more black splotches scattered around them, though these splotches were joined by abandoned dented armor of the Einherjar that hinted of a chaotic scene before. However, they did not stop until they noticed a dead area ahead and hurried over to there to investigate. This particular area, known to the residents as the Sacred Ruins for it was more rural and cryptic with a grove of moss-covered trees and rocks encircled the area, engraved podiums stood in a triangular outline, and a rune-covered rock altar held up by two uncovered rocks at the center with a spiral pattern of rocks surrounding it, did not appear to have any Heartless running around, though the party could not be sure if this was a ruse to let their guard down. Fusa was the first to stop and then carefully step forward to find that the area was clean of Heartless before bringing her attention over to the others and nodding her head in confirmation. Thor, Max, and Gus followed her lead as Meow Wow joined her side.

"What do we do now?" The young Keyblade wielder asked the Asgardian prince with an unsure thought as she brought her attention to him.

"We investigate the Ruins and then plan our next move," Thor answered as Max and Gus looked over at him as well. "Tis better to be aware of our surroundings with the creatures running amok and spreading chaos."

"Splendid strategy, Thor!" Gus exclaimed in agreement with a nod of approval. "When the Heartless attack, we will have the advantages of surprise and readiness."

"Ehh... not so much surprise, but definitely on readiness," Max only replied as he gave the Gremlin an unsure shrug of his shoulders.

"Then it is decided, lads- we'll split up and examine closer at our surroundings," Gus then explained in a confident tone with two fingers pointed up, "Once we are all finished, we'll then regroup and discuss our findings." Then he took off to get started as Thor and Max split off as well to their separate ways, leaving Fusa and Meow Wow behind by themselves.

It was here that Fusa brought her attention to the rocks before her and then got on one of them on her tiptoes, delicately taking steps on one rock at a time until she reached the altar, where she got a better look at the top as her Dream Eater joined it and sniffed the area with its nose. She noticed that there was an image carved on the stone of a large snake with sharp fangs biting its tail around the middle of a tree as if it was a ring. It was then that she brought the tip of her right ring finger on the carved image and started to gently trail it on the stone itself in awe before hearing her Dream Eater squeak excitedly and jumping on top of it to paw over the "eye". This made Fusa think about what could be on the stone, or rather _in_ the stone before attempting to lift her finger up with it through the hole. However, she realized that it can only slide open as she attempted to nudge her finger out of the eye, carefully sliding it open and looking into what was inside.

After getting her finger out of the hole, Fusa pulled out a black bandana with silver designs at the center and on the corners before noticing something written at the bottom of the stone. She carefully picked it up and read "Divine Bandana", much to her confusion, before keeping the bandana in her hands before leaving the stone. The first thing that she saw was Max silently investigating with his goggles on and leaving no stone behind. Next, she looked over to see Gus with his own investigation, though he was jotting down his own findings and was more focused about it. It was then that she saw a small Treasure Chest slightly obscured by vegetation before going over to it and putting the bandana into her pocket, allowing her to summon her Keyblade in her hand. With the Keyblade in her hand, she carefully opened the Treasure Chest and found what appears to be a Potion; however, she cocked her head to the side curiously when she saw that the shape was a little rounder than the normal Potion with two green stars and a yellow moon at the front. When she picked it up, she looked under it to find the word "Hi-Potion" written on the bottom before carefully putting it into her backpack and then standing back up again. Finally, she noticed Thor and went over to him with her Dream Eater following behind her, where she saw that he was concentrating on something important and was not speaking a word. However, this was rather fruitless as he turned his head a bit to see her approaching him and standing up straight to focus on her.

"I take it that your own investigation went well, young Fusa?" He asked with his arms crossed in front of him.

"I think so, yeah," Fusa answered with a quick nod before getting the bandana out of her pocket to show him. "I found this inside of the stone whilst looking at it. It's called the 'Dee-vine Ban-dana'... I think."

"Rather peculiar that a Divine Bandana would be kept inside of the altar, for Father would have informed me and my brother of it before..." Thor mused to himself as he thought about it before bringing his attention back to the young Keyblade wielder. "It is strange that these Heartless would not step foot in here, though I believe that this is the work of the sanctuary's magic, decrepit as the area is. Perhaps we are never meant to know why."

Fusa only looked up and around wordlessly to see if this was true or not, even if she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary as she brought her attention to Thor and then back to the Divine Bandana again before biting her lower lip. It was then that, after some thought about it, she carefully brought the bandana in her hand forward out to him, though he furrowed his eyebrows at this action.

"You want me to take it?" He inquired with a raised eyebrow to her.

"Yeah, I want you to have it," she answered with a quick nod of her head, though she did not pull her hand back to her. "You know more about it than I do."

Thor then reluctantly accepted the Divine Bandana from the young Newborn Nobody's hand to hold in his own, confused as to why someone like Fusa, whom he's known for less time than his friends, would do something like this. Nonetheless, he tucked the Divine Bandana under his armor for safekeeping before bringing his attention up to see Max and Gus joining the others again. Fusa noticed this before turning around to see her friends as well as her Dream Eater spirit rolled around on its back without a care.

"What are your findings?" The Asgardian warrior then asked the two without removing his attention from them.

"No sign of any Heartless, just ruins and more ruins," the young Knight reported first as he rubbed the back of his neck with his gloved hand. "I didn't find any remains in the form of splotches nor did I smell anything out of the ordinary."

"I can attest to that and agree with Sir Maximillian," the Gremlin concurred with a nod as he reported next. "I did not find any remains of a struggle between Heartless and entelechy, but I did find what looks like a stone slab with the symbol at the center that resembles a wheel."

"So this is the work of the Helm of Awe, then," Thor said quietly in thought as he picked his hammer up to ready it and Fusa brought her attention over to him wordlessly. "It seems that its power has not weakened by age ever since it was first created within this area. Therefore, it is plausible that its protection spell has been keeping these Heartless away."

Suddenly, there came a low rumbling noise that startled the small party as they stayed close and readied their weapons in defense, though they did not know where the source of this noise originated from; what most of them knew was that the noise was not unlike the neigh of a horse. They also noticed that dark clouds above them were starting to slowly form as the air around them started to slowly grow cold, something that made the Asgardian prince suspicious. Then they heard crashes in the distance and brought their attention to the exit of the area, leading to a broken path before them, to which Fusa, Max, and Thor kept their weapons in their hands. The first to step forward, albeit reluctantly, was Fusa herself as her party members and Meow Wow followed suit. She had to be careful in her movement on the broken path due to the recent cracks in it as it just stopped mere inches from the Sacred Ruins, but the rest of the party pressed onward anyway.

* * *

As they passed through the risen ground on both sides of the path, the party came upon ground that had sunk, leaving a wide gap between them and the other side of the newly-formed cliff. When the group came close to the edge of the cliff, Fusa came to a halt and then scuttled back with a tremble of high anxiety upon noticing how deep the gap goes as Meow Wow remained by her side. Thor, Max, and Gus only looked ahead to a fight occurring on the other side, though they didn't know as to what else was going on as well; the young Knight, on the other hand, quickly put his goggles on to get a better look before them.

"Thor, it's Fandral and he's fighting off some Heartless," Max then said to the Asgardian prince as he put his goggles up back to his head again and brought his attention over to the warrior. "We better help him out."

"Agreed, Sir Max," Thor responded as he quickly checked the condition of the cliff edge before the group and the gap between it and the other side. "I'll use Mjolnir to get you to Fandral in time by using its power of wind. Once that is done and I see that you made it safely, I'll join you in the fray."

"Ah, excellent strategy, lad! We'll need it," Gus piped in with a nod before preparing for the trip over the gap.

It is was then that Max placed his Skateboard Shield on his back to keep it on him as Gus finished up tightening down anything on himself that would be lost, but Fusa remained where she was with a light tremble of her body. She was hesitant to go near the cliff yet did not understand why she was acting like this, even as she saw her friends joining with each other to get started. However, she then noticed Thor looking over at her and approaching her so that she would join the others, though she didn't say anything to him at all. Instead, she tensed up as he stopped and frowned with furrowed brows when he recognized this fear.

"Young Fusa, is there something the matter regarding what we are doing?" He then asked her as he witnessed her tremble.

"I can't- I can't do this, I'll fall, please don't make me do this," Fusa then quietly whimpered with anxiety as she shook her head at him and kept her arms close to her chest.

"Fusa, listen to me carefully," Thor then explained to her in an attempt to soothe her worries with his hands carefully yet firmly on her shoulders. "I understand that you are frightened by this and you are unwilling to go through with it. Even the bravest of warriors like myself show fear, but we become stronger by facing them as if they are but an everyday occurrence. I have witnessed your own bravery even at the risk of death, so I have faith in you to do this with us. I swear upon my life that I will not let you fall while I am here. You have my word."

This somewhat comforted Fusa a bit even though she was still nervous, to which she finally nodded to him without a word. She then removed her backpack and opened it for Meow Wow, allowing it to bounce into the pack snugly, closing it up and putting it back on so that she would join Max and Gus with Thor by her side. As soon as all of the party members were together, Thor twirled his hammer around as fast as he can to create a growing wind for them until a strong twister passage was formed. He brought his attention to the small party and gave them a nod of confidence for them before stopping himself and allowing the passage to continue swirling in front of them. Max, having put his goggles on and strapped his Skateboard Shield on his back, charged forward first and leaped towards the twister, eventually pulled into it. Fusa gasped in nervousness as she watched her friend, though Gus is less bothered by the sight before he floated forward to go into the twister as well, soon sucked into it. Now the young Newborn Nobody and the Asgardian prince remained where they were as the former looked over to see him.

"There's not much time, young one," Thor then advised Fusa as she looked over to see the twister again. "Go, now!"

"Okay!" She called back with a nod before tightening the backpack straps again.

After a few seconds, Fusa finally took off in a sprint towards the twister and then took a leap of faith, suddenly sucked into it as well. She noticed that her friends were still in the tornado as well, though they all had to focus a bit as the passage started to wind down and they started to gradually drop. It was then that Max breathed in and lunged forward with his Skateboard Shield tightly gripped in his hands. Both Gus and Fusa noticed this as the Gremlin quickly floated behind to follow the young Knight, leaving Fusa in the tornado as it was winding down some more and leaving her alone. Just as the twister finally stopped, however, she felt something grab her hand and bring her feet to the ground when she was about to plunge to the gap below. She brought her attention up to see Thor, who used his hammer to get to the other side of the cliff to join the others, to which he gave a grin to her.

"I kept my word," he then said to her as he released her hand and brought his attention over to see Max pulling his goggles back up and then fighting a couple of Heartless on his own.

This allowed Fusa to hurry over to his side to join him, summoning her Keyblade as she did so that she would be ready to fight again.

"Need help, Max?" She asked as they stood back to back with him.

"I got these ones all warmed up for ya," he answered to her with a light grin as he looked over his shoulder slightly, "But let's work together."

It did not take long as Thor joined them and then readied his hammer to fight, to which this made the Bilgeicers and the rock-gloved creatures bring their attention away from Fandral and to the small party. Soon, the party started to combat the Heartless as Fusa executed a Sliding Dash and a Horizontal Slash on the Bilgeicers, Max tossed his Skateboard Shield at the rock-gloved beasts in the manner of a boomerang, and Thor directed lightning bolts summoned by his hammer. Gus, in the meantime, stayed with Fandral to nurse the warrior's wounds and record the new Heartless in his journal. As the fight raged on, Fusa opened her left palm and thrust her free arm forward on the remaining Bilgeicer when her body glowed again, causing this Heartless to glow as well. Then she moved, controlling its movement and puppeteering it to fight the few Heartless that remained in the area. In the middle of this action, one of the rock-gloved creatures jumped in the air and came down to slam its fist on the ground, creating a shockwave that struck those in the area and an earthquake that rumbled around them. Fusa, shaken up by this, lost her concentration and prematurely broke off her connection with the Bilgeicer. Nonetheless, she readied herself again and this time Shattered the Heartless's tainted Heart to weaken it before striking it down just as it charged at her. She finally did a similar action with the rock-gloved Heartless- which Gus decided to call it a "Snowquake" in his journal based on his observations- in spite of its multiple cousins joining it. This time, she charged forward at them and raised her Keyblade in the air with a cry to Thunder, bringing down lightning to weaken what is left of them. This allowed her, Max, and Thor to take down the Snowquakes and finish the fight in victory.

Afterwards, the small party gathered up Orbs and Munny to absorb them, with Fusa was collecting Heart Orbs to refuel her power, as Meow Wow teleported out of her backpack with a Shield Cookie in its mouth and then immediately munched it up. It was then that the Dream Eater looked over to see Fandral as its owner brought her attention to him as well and then allowed the Meow Wow to approach him. At first, the dashing warrior was confused, if not alarmed, until he saw a bright green glow around its magenta horn and felt his wounds heal up. He slowly gave it a smile of appreciation in thanks as he put his rapier away and joined the small party.

"You and your new acquaintances made good timing coming here, Thor," Fandral said in a humorous tone to make light on the situation. "Even if I was holding on my own with these beasts, I thank you for the assistance."

"No need to thank us yet, my friend," Thor responded as he brought his hammer down a bit, "Hogun already told us regarding what happened here and how Father reacted to the creatures coming here."

"Aye, 'twas a mess!" Fandral groaned with a rub of his forehead. "The All-Father told us that Young Fusa and her companions were responsible in spite of providing no proof for it. But I did not accept it regardless as the young one proved her honour in the Training akin to any other warrior here."

"Is there anything else we should know of, Fandral?" Thor then asked his friend as the small party listened.

"There is," the dashing warrior answered with a quick nod to his friend as he thought about it. "There is a large eight-legged blue equine beast riding in the clouds with what appears to be a chariot. Our best archers could not take it down as it is too far away and are instead shot down with what looked like icicle arrows. We believe that it came here to destroy Asgard, but we do not know what it will do when it happens."

This new information made the small party concerned as they didn't know about this "beast" that Fandral described, but Thor was not too worried about the description and only grinned from the potential of a challenge.

"We will be on the lookout for this beast, then," the warrior prince then assured to Fandral without hesitation as he brought a hand on his shoulder, "Thank you, Fandral. We will take it from here. Return to the palace and defend it and our king."

Fandral only nodded to them with a relieved grin before before immediately leaving for the Asgardian Palace and protect it as advised by his companion, though Fusa was the only one that watched him leave even when the small party were left alone again. However, she looked forward ahead and dashed forward with her party members and Meow Wow following not far behind.

* * *

Within the Asgardian Palace, Hogun was close to the twin doors with his mace ready as Odin sat in his throne and his queen and younger son providing warm blankets for the huddled citizens and their families during this crisis. Loki himself noticed how uneasy the air had become, especially with the crowd of survivors growing unsure and anxious of the unexpected dangers outside of the Palace and the small clump of warriors trembling on their own feet. He involuntarily went to his mother's side with a breath of discomfort, causing her to notice before they resumed giving out the remaining blankets for their people. Suddenly, a knock came to one of the twin doors, elevating the unease in the room as the royal family, the warriors, and their citizens brought their attentions to them. Hogun kept his calm as he brought his free hand out to three approaching Einherjar before cautiously yet quickly stepping forward to the door and opening it. Much to his relief, as well as everyone else that held their breaths, it was Fandral as he entered inside without time to spare.

"How is Thor, Fandral?" Hogun asked his fellow friend as they mutually grasped their arms by their hands.

"Thor and his new companions are doing swimmingly, my friend," the dashing warrior answered with a grin of confidence. "They are taking on the tough situation quite smoothly."

As Odin heard this go on, he beckoned his twin ravens to his arm before whispering something to one at a time when they landed on his gauntlet. Just as Loki could try and make out what it was, the ravens took off to the outside as the door was closing by one of the guards, to which Fandral and Hogun only watched them leave before facing the closed doors and readying their weapons.

* * *

As the small party hurried away from the cliff, Fusa heard a heartbeat ahead and picked up her pace to go faster, though Max was finding himself getting exhausted from his friend's quickened rush as he, Thor, Gus, and Meow Wow followed behind her. However, they all stopped upon noticing a cliff before them with a ledge above them and brought their attention up its wall. Though not as deep or tall as the gap between the cliffs, it was still taller than any of them expected. This made Fusa a little nervous as her light pink eyes scaled the wall before she stepped back with baited breath.

"Sir Max, what can you share with us regarding the cliff?" Thor demanded without removing his own eyes from what was before them.

"There is a chance we'll go up it, but that's the trick," Max answered as he used his goggles to scan it. "Fusa can run up it with her Flowmotion, you'll use your hammer to fly up to the top, and I'll hang onto your cape as well. Meow Wow could probably bounce up there, though how far up it can bounce will depend on the velocity and weight of Gus on its back."

"We'll accept your explanation," Gus then replied to the young Knight before looking over at Fusa. "Let us get started, then."

The young Keyblade wielder gulped when the others looked over at her, but she had to nod in uncertainty instead before bringing her attention back to the cliff again, taking steps back to distance herself from it, and allowing her Keyblade to vanish into thin air. Then she dashed forward rather quickly towards it before catapulting up the cliff wall by her feet as the glow of the Flowmotion surrounded her. Just as she made it to the side of the ledge at the top, however, she panicked when the glow faded and then gripped on the ledge with both hands as she clung on desperately. Fusa whimpered in fear with a bead of sweat coming down the right side of her face as she looked down before bringing her attention to her small party and then carefully swung her left leg to let them know.

"By George, that kid's done it," Gus said with astonishment before looking over at Thor and Max and adding, "Let's go join her, shall we?"

Soon, the two rushed forward to the cliff as the Asgardian prince quickly twirled his hammer and then swung it forward to curve up the cliff wall, allowing him to take off with the young Knight holding on his cape for dear life. Gus then got on Meow Wow's back and got it to the bottom edge of the cliff before it started to bounce. It then gained momentum and eventually bounced at a high distance from the ground, giving Gus a chance to pivot the Dream Eater to the side so that it would land just as Thor and Max joined them. As for Fusa, she remained clinging on the ledge by her hands before pulling herself up and throwing her legs over to the ledge where Max caught them and brought her over carefully. Immediately afterwards, Fusa got to her feet and gave him a nod in thanks as she summoned her Keyblade into her right hand. It was then that the small party noticed Volstagg surrounded by icy blue wolves with red paws, soulless yellow eyes, a permanent jagged snarl with teeth made out of ice, and the Heartless emblem on their chests. On the backs of the Heartless pack were white rabbits with red spots, frozen archery bows and arrows by their sides, matching yellow eyes, and the emblem on their chests as well. This, along with the sight of Volstagg having wounds on him as well, shocked the party, but they had no time to waste so they hurried over to help him when he noticed and grinned to them.

"I got these beasts warmed up for you, lads!" Volstagg boasted as an attempt to conceal his pain from them.

Although Fusa did not see any of the Heartless look as if they were going to melt, she readied her Keyblade as Max and Thor prepared their own weapons while Gus lead Meow Wow over to help Volstagg. Then they started to combat these new Heartless as the two new forms fought them in return. The small party, though slightly exhausted from the ascent up the cliff wall, continued to fight as the Dicerwolves and Blizzinnies- the names that Gus gave them in his journal- respawned when some of their own were slain in the fight. Even as Fusa called upon Thunder and used her Heart powers to keep these Heartless at bay, she resorted to her Limit Break again. This time, however, she used her power to attempt to gather up what was left of the Heartless before executing the Limit Break first with the Final Limit following. As soon as the fight was over, one stray Blizzinny readied itself from its fatally wounded steed and then roughly kicking the exhausted Volstagg, knocking him back to the edge of the ledge to let him drop as the small party noticed in shock.

" _ **Volstagg**!_ " Thor bellowed as he dashed forward and caught his friend's ankle just as the husky warrior slipped off of the edge of the ledge, eventually pulling him back to the cliff with Fusa, Max, and Gus helping out.

As soon as the task was done, Fusa sat back in exhaustion with a few wounds and Meow Wow bounded over to him and used its Cure to heal him of his wounds on the spot, giving Volstagg the strength to return to his feet with help. Afterwards, the small party gathered up any spoils that were left from the fight, which also healed up any wounds that they had on themselves, and then watched as Thor approached his friend to speak with him.

"I give you my thanks to all of you, lads," Volstagg thanked them now that his strength was restored. "Had none of you saved me, I would have been at the gates of Valhalla."

"We accept your thanks, my friend," Thor replied with a nod of his head. "Fandral has already told us of Father's assumption of the young Fusa doing this in spite of a lack of solid evidence."

"Aye, 'twas baffling for the King to think this!" Volstagg explained as he expressed disbelief from the idea. "Even as the blue beast rode in the skies, the All-Father still maintained this thought of the young one being responsible for this unexplained chaos. Yet I refuse to blame Young Fusa for the beast or the anarchy. It is simply too impossible to consider."

"Is there anything else we should know, Volstagg?" Thor then inquired to his friend as he nodded again, this time in thought.

"Aye, there is," the hefty warrior answered with a nod in return to the prince. "The blue eight-legged beast hides behind the clouds; when spotted, it is high above the Asgardian Palace and circling around it. Why it does so, no one knows."

This added information made the small party worried as they looked at each other at a time, but Thor chose not to show it.

"We will take care of the beast that you speak of," he then explained to Volstagg with a firm hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Volstagg. We'll take it from here. Return to the palace and defend it and our king."

"Best of luck to all and be strong for Asgard," the husky warrior responded with a nod before readying his double-bladed axe and then taking off.

With Volstagg's leave, the small party gathered around with the new information to discuss, though Fusa herself was silent.

"So this 'beast' is circling around the palace and hiding behind dark clouds... now if the theory that the Casket of Ancient Winters is this 'Key-hole', then the creatures would have stayed with it by now," Thor explained with a troubled thought. "Alternatively, we would have gone to the Weapons Vault to investigate."

"Or this world have been swallowed up by the Darkness," Max added as he brought up his goggles to his head again.

"Which means that the Casket might not be the Keyhole if the Heartless already left the Weapons Vault," Gus also added as he pondered.

The three then looked over at Fusa to see if she has anything to say, even though she had nothing to think about until she tried to when she noticed them.

"Well, umm..." She only responded in thought. "We should move on, yeah."

With this agreement, the small party moved forward away from the cliff and its ledge to continue their trek. However, they were unaware of the twin ravens flying high above and ahead of them, circling around as they kept watch below.

* * *

After a bit of time, the small party arrived in what appears to be a small village market surrounded by rune-covered stones with abandoned homes, where the silence of the Village Market did not go unnoticed as they around cautiously. Thor was not surprised, neither was Max or Gus, that the Village Market had been empty as the citizens had been evacuated when the situation was sincere. Fusa, on the other hand, was unnerved by the silence- it was too similar to Traverse Town at the start of her journey. Her Meow Wow bounded around, sniffing for anything to find for its owner to have before detecting a small pouch in a narrow location and squeezing through as it squeaked and whimpered in the meantime. The small party then separated to investigate the area, where Fusa moved to find a small Treasure Chest next to a wooden cart and summoned her Keyblade to open it. Inside of the chest was an icy blue shard with a cold touch when she held it in her hand before putting it in her backpack and then moving on to the next small Treasure Chest near the corner of one building. She opened the next chest and pulled out a Dark Shard from it, holding it in her hand before putting it in her backpack and moving on to a larger Treasure Chest not too far away. It was inside of the final Treasure Chest that she found something strange in it upon opening that as well, where she found a strange silver bracelet with a blue diamond on the central and largest segment. She examined it rather curiously before carefully putting it on around her right wrist on top of her dark blue band for safekeeping, though she didn't know what it would hold.

When it was concluded that there were no Heartless and instead a few open Treasure Chests, Thor approached the young Newborn Nobody to speak to her; Fusa herself brought her attention over to see him as her Keyblade vanished into thin air, not sure as to what he needed.

"Young Fusa, I wish to discuss something in private with you," the Asgardian warrior then said to her as she kept her attention on him, though rather cluelessly. "This is in regards to your Limit Break and what I have in mind."

In spite of her confusion as to what he meant by this with a couple of blinks to him in unawareness, she only nodded to him as she turned her body to him.

"As your Limit Break is strong against the Heartless, it will not be wise to utilize it against this beast assuming that it is stronger than the rest," he then explained to her in a low tone. "Therefore, I would suggest a combination of our individual strengths to use what Father calls the 'Eye of the Storm', a Limit Break that Mjolnir grants to its wielder and an ally that will execute an enemy."

"'Eye of the Storm'? But why me?" Fusa asked as she twirled her ahoge around her finger and listened to him.

"When Father bestowed Mjolnir to me, he said to me as he taught me how to execute this new and unusual attack with him, 'Your ally in battle must have a strong mutual bond of trust in you as you would trust them. Without this mutual bond, the attack will not work and instead backfire.' He also wanted me to do this with Loki, but my brother is not as strong as I am and thus could not handle the attack's great power. So he refuses to trust in me when we try to attempt it in battle."

Fusa removed her finger from her ahoge and brought it down before clasping both hands with an unsure thought that came to mind. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't do it with either Lady Sif or the Warriors Three, causing herself to think about if he was being too rash.

"I-I'm not sure if I would survive it," she confessed quietly with her eyes cast down to the ground and to her shoes.

"Do not worry, I will make sure that you do," he then assured to her with a hand on her shoulder, allowing her to look up again.

Before she could even reply to him, the two heard a pair of cawing and brought their attentions to see two ravens high in the air. Max and Gus, who were wrapping up with their own investigation, heard the ravens above them as well. Almost immediately, the small party witnessed a blue equine beast galloping in the sky and carrying what looks like a chariot with icicles hanging off of the wheels. As soon as the beast shown itself, it hid behind the dark clouds and a sudden object rapidly shot through one of the ravens, to which it loud a pained squawk and then fell fast from above. The party members hurried to where it was heading as the raven crashed on its back with a hard crack upon landing on one of the rune-covered stones and then on the ground itself. The other raven landed by its fallen companion just as Fusa got on both of her knees and Meow Wow returned with a pouch in its mouth. Thor and Max joined her as they got on one knee in unison, to which the Asgardian warrior was closer to the fallen bird while the young Knight put on his goggles to try and track down the blue equine beast.

"Father's ravens... He must have sent them to watch us," Thor spoke as he gently picked up and held the wounded raven in his hands while it slumped its head back and made low and quiet calls, its blue left eye and normal dark brown right eye blinking rapidly.

"Here, I'll give it my Potion," Fusa suggested as she removed her backpack and then took a Potion out to open it for the bird before moving to pour the liquid on the raven.

However, the other raven noticed this with its blue right eye, to which it immediately cawed in a hostile manner and violently flapped its wings at her. This startled her and caused her to drop the Potion before it shattered upon impact on the ground.

"It looks like Huginn does not wish for you to go near Munnin like this," Thor advised to Fusa as he looked over at the other raven before bringing his attention over to her as well. "He needs to trust you first."

"How do I do that?" She asked Thor in return as she shook a bit from noticing the raven's death glare towards her.

"Show him that you plan to do no harm to Munnin," he answered in a low tone so that the active raven wouldn't hear him.

Fusa nodded a bit before looking over at the raven in Thor's hands and then her eyes started to glow, allowing to see its Shattered heart slowly chip away piece by piece with Darkness. Her eyes then stopped glowing as she brought her attention to Thor and slowly brought her hands forward, to which he nodded and then carefully handed Munnin to her even as Huginn loudly cawed in protest. Then she held the fading raven as it started to convulse with gurgled squawks and gently rested her hand over its heart before starting to glow again. This caused Huginn to stop cawing and just watch silently, though Thor kept his attention on the raven so that it wouldn't attack her. As Fusa used her power on the wounded raven, Munnin slowly stopped convulsing and started to relax with a boost in strength from this strange ability before the glow slowly faded away. She then brought her attention to the raven in her hands and watched it carefully as to what it would do now, hoping that her power would work.

After Munnin's heart was Mended, the now recovered raven brought its head up to see her before hopping on her right arm to examine her with its blue eye. The young Newborn Nobody gave a soft sigh of relief as she gently petted the raven's head with a soft smile. Its companion hopped over to join them, no longer hostile as it moved to examine her as well. However, after a moment or two, Munnin hopped onto the top of her head and took off in flight, getting three singly strands of her platinum blonde hair in its feathers as Huginn followed behind, leaving the small party be as they watched the two ravens leave. Once the ravens were out of sight, everyone brought their attentions to each other again as Max removed his goggles so that he would dedicate his attention to his friends.

"We should head out and get to Lady Sif now," Thor then explained to Fusa and her friends once he, the young Keyblade wielder, and Max got to their feet again. "Once that is taken care of, we'll fight off any Heartless that dare stand in our way."

Once everyone was in agreement of this plan, almost everyone left except for Fusa herself and her Meow Wow, where she noticed the pouch in the Dream Eater's mouth and knelt down to examine it. She noticed that it was a dark brown color with a light brown stitch pattern with an odd symbol before accepting it from Meow Wow and then putting it in her backpack for safekeeping. It was then that she brought her attention over to find her party already away from the area before hurrying away to catch up with them after closing her backpack and putting it back on, causing her Meow Wow to follow as it bounded to go to its owner's side.

* * *

Back in the Throne Room of the Asgardian Palace, as Odin waited in his throne for his ravens to return and his queen comforted those that were frightened, some knocks came at one of the twin doors again. Sentries and citizens alike all tensed up as Fandral and Hogun hurried to the door with their weapons ready before they looked at each other and nodded their heads in unison to each other. When they cautiously opened it, they discovered Volstagg outside as he gave them an excited yet relieved grin when he saw them again. The two warriors did not hesitate to let him in, to which he got inside as quickly as he can and then noticed one of the Asgardian women throwing a warm blanket off of herself and hurrying over to in a warm embrace. They were then joined by a few children as he nearly fell to his knees at the comforting sight of their presence.

"Oh, thank the Norns that all of you are safe," Volstagg muttered softly as he hugged his family.

"Volstagg, how does Thor and the others fare?" Fandral asked once his fellow warrior brought his attention to his friends.

"They are managing well against the creatures," Volstagg answered with a nod of renewed confidence. "I have faith in them that they will take care of this."

Just as Fandral and Hogun were carefully closing the door, however, the twin ravens flew inside in a dash as Odin brought his right eye over to them the moment that they flew into the room. He brought his left arm out to accept them, letting them perch on his arm obediently before noticing three bright strands of hair on Munnin's feathers and standing up to put his staff by his throne to examine the hair strands. Frigga and Loki moved to join him when they saw this with the queen holding the leather glove-covered Chained Token in her hands, though they quickly recognized the hair strands in the feathers. Suddenly, the covered Chained Token started to levitate from the queen's hands and cause the leather glove to slip off. Everyone present watched in confusion and awe as the Token floated over to the ravens, though they didn't flinch at the sight. When it stopped levitating and collapsed to the ground, Frigga carefully picked it back up and held it in her hands again but this time feeling that it was warm to the touch.

"The Token is reacting to the outsider's scent on Munnin," Odin muttered in thought as he recalled a light pink glow and a platinum blonde braid from when he closed his good eye to remember. "Whatever magic they used on him is far different than what I expected. But we must not be too rash if the rest of the outsiders have opposite intentions for Asgard."

It was then that the golden walls of the room surrounding the royal family, the warriors, and the citizens were slowly turning blue as the air sharply dropped to the cold and the dome ceiling above grew dark blue and frosty as an area of sharp ice developed. This caused a budded panic in the crowd as they huddled together to stay warm with the blankets and the Warriors Three readied their weapons as a precaution. Frigga, however, brought her attention over to her son and gave him a nod of hope even as he was more doubtful than she was.

* * *

Back with the small party, Fusa hurried ahead with Thor, Max, and Gus following behind and Meow Wow quickly bounding by her side. As they hurried, she detected a heartbeat not far away and noticed a different area near the waters, to which she curved in their path and rushed over to check it out. It was not long until they arrived at the Fjord Docks where wrecked wooden fjords surrounded them with little to no soul around that they could find. However, they noticed some Heartless being tossed aside as a few Shadows crawled up the final fjord on the deck to try and attack again, to which the small party hurried to investigate what was going on as the heartbeat that Fusa detected was much closer than she expected. Upon climbing up and into the fjord, they discovered Lady Sif- wounded and exhausted- valiantly fighting off Shadows with her twin swords and hurried over to join her.

"This isn't very challenging, you know," Lady Sif huffed to Thor as she panted a bit and clenched the handles of her swords when she noticed Fusa with them. "Besides, I'm handling this on my own."

"I consider this an experience," Thor only responded with a grin as he readied his hammer, Fusa summoned her Keyblade, and Max got his Skateboard Shield out. "Right now, we got this now."

The small party, with Gus and Meow Wow taking cover from sight and Lady Sif fighting with them, then started to fight off the growing numbers of Heartless that respawned every defeat- the Shadows, the Behemoth Runts, the Blizzinnies riding on the Dicerwolves' backs, the Einburrjar, the Snowquakes, and the Bilgeicers- and collect any spoils that dropped with every Heartless's defeat. Fusa linked her power on a rowdy Bilgeicer and then redirected it so that it would attack some of the other Heartless until it was injured; Thor brought lightning bolts on some more Heartless; and Max used his Skateboard Shield to both defend himself and the others from oncoming attacks and fight off the Heartless. As more batches of Heartless appeared in the wake of their cousins' concurrent demises, Thor looked over at Fusa and gave her a confident grin and a nod of his head to her. Although she didn't know what to do at first, she hurried over to him as Thunder charged between them when they stood back to back. But when lightning appeared and wrapping around their weapons and their wrists, Fusa's eyes widened in panic and she quickly pulled away with a whimper to shake it away. This caused the lightning bolts to rapidly crackle at Thor like whips, striking him at his chest without warning and pushing him back to the floor of the fjord, while Fusa was also struck and shocked as well, though she had to keep her ground when it happened. Then she noticed that he gotten back up and brushed the incident off before giving her a grin and bringing his attention over to the Heartless to fight them again. This did not give her any comfort this time, but she returned her attention over to the Heartless again and went after them as well.

Once the fight was over and done with, as soon as everyone in the small party had collected all of the spoils and absorbed them to heal their wounds and refill their strengths, Gus and Meow Wow came out from hiding. However, as soon as she was finished absorbing any fallen Heart Orbs and bringing her powers back to full strength, Fusa was the first to hurry over to Thor in worry.

"Thor, I'm really sorry," she instantly apologized to him as he brushed off any dark splotches from his armor, "I-I didn't know- I panicked and-"

"Do not worry, young one," the warrior assured to her as he placed his hand on her head. "Lightning cannot harm me as long as I wield Mjolnir and control its raw power."

Just as she was about to respond to him, Fusa brought her attention over to see Lady Sif hunching over and panting in exhaustion as she shakily stood straight up again, to which the young Newborn Nobody was concerned for her before pulling away and stepping over a bit to check on her, to which her Keyblade vanished into thin air again. Her eyes glowed again to check Sif's heart, finding it to be partially Shattered from the amount of Heartless that had ambushed her. Just as she approached the warrior, however, Sif scowled at Fusa in irritation when she noticed the Keyblade wielder coming up to her, to which she attached her twin swords by their ends to make the double-bladed sword before bringing one end at Fusa in self-defense.

"Do not go near me," Sif then warned in a sincere tone with a glare as she aimed the tip of her blade between Fusa's eyes, making the young Newborn Nobody tremble as her eyes stopped glowing. "You might have fooled the others with those long eyelashes, but I am not going to fall for that. The creatures attacking Asgard and slaughtering innocent lives are of your doing- my king makes no mistakes about that. I obey the All-Father's orders and I intend to execute those that endanger my home. So either you step away from me or I will not hold back on following the king's command."

"No, i-it's not like that," Fusa then stammered as she shook her head and moved away from the tip of the sword to try and go near Sif again. "It's your heart- I need to use my power to-"

Before she got a chance to explain, Fusa felt a swift hand grab her neck and tightly squeeze it, for Lady Sif swiftly brought her hand to grasp the younger one in frustration and irritation and lifted her up from the ground. This shocked Max and Gus when they noticed this go on, as Thor was appalled this time by his friend's actions.

"I've already warned you **once** , and I will not repeat myself," Sif then explained to Fusa as she started to choke the young Keyblade wielder with her strength. "I do not have intentions to try and trust you nor ever will. So if you have the slightest idea of using your magic to win me over, then you are wrong. I have spent my long life building up a reputation here on Asgard and I will not be made a fool by a bright-haired naive youth like you. Then there's the matter of the creatures: they were discovered after you and your company arrived here to Asgard. I highly doubt that it is a coincidence."

"N-no, I-I didn't-" Fusa tried to protest with a choke before Sif brought the tip of her blade to the younger girl's neck.

"Then why didn't you listen to my warning?" The warrior then demanded in a harsh tone as she tightened her grip around Fusa's neck.

"Sif, let her go! She speaks the truth!" Thor finally objected to his friend as he gripped his hammer in his hand before explaining to the other warrior, "Fusa has no part in the creatures' invasion of Asgard. She has proven her innocence time and time again, for the Warriors Three are witnesses of her actions. If she is responsible, then she would not have let any of us live this fight."

Sif brought her attention over to Thor when he mentioned this before looking over at Fusa again, to which she couldn't understand this one's hesitant nature or why Thor was willing to defend an outsider. Then she thought of how he and the Warriors Three were treating the young one and started to loosen her grip around Fusa's neck, though not completely letting go quite yet. Finally, she gave a quiet sigh, lowered her arm and released the young Keyblade wielder from her grasp, causing her to drop and rub her neck in pain as Max and Gus went over to help her up.

"I'll let you live for now, but heed my words, outsider," Sif then lowly warned as she stepped forward and Fusa stepped back in clear intimidation towards the warrior, "If it is true that you are responsible for this, then I will not hesitate removing your head off of that scrawny little neck and holding it up by your hair. Do I make myself clear?"

Fusa shook where she stood as she brought her hands around her neck in fear before nodding to the warrior, not wanting to make her furious again. This allowed Sif to pull back and walk away from the small party just as Fusa fell to her knees in a tremble. However, Thor watched his friend and brought a hand on her shoulder, causing her to stop and bring her attention to him.

"What now?" The warrior softly muttered before bringing her focus on the Asgardian prince.

"I swear, Lady Sif, the young one means no harm to us," Thor then explained to Sif in a low tone as he noticed that the rest of the small party were helping the young Keyblade wielder back to her feet. "Just this once, let her use her power on you."

"And why do you say this? Why do you think that she doesn't want to harm me?" She then asked in a skeptical tone to him, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I witnessed it and so did her companions," he only answered to her as she looked over at the Newborn Nobody. "And because you're one of my friends."

Without a word, Sif looked over to the small party and then walked back over to them to go to the young Keyblade wielder, though Fusa tensed up when she noticed the warrior walking over to them. This time, however, the young Newborn Nobody slowly relaxed and faced the warrior again, causing her eyes to glow again to see the Shattered heart once more. It was then that Fusa started to concentrate and slowly Mend Sif's heart with her arms slightly brought out in front of her even as her arms shook a bit. It took a few minutes for this to happen until Fusa was finished, to which she stopped glowing and brought her arms down again to relax. Once her heart was Mended and her strength was restored, Sif looked over to Thor and prepared her weapon as the small party watched them a bit.

"We'll take it from here, Lady Sif," the Asgardian prince assured to his friend as he held his hammer, "Return to the palace and defend it and our king. We're not going to let the creatures destroy Asgard, I promise."

"Then I will see you on the other side," Sif responded as she readied her shield and double-bladed sword before taking off to head to the Palace, to which the small party watched her exit before bringing their attentions to each other.

"What do we do now?" Max finally asked to break the silence as Fusa brought her attention over to him.

"We find the blue equine beast and we fight it," Thor answered when he thought about it as he looked over at the young Knight. "But we need to go to the palace immediately in case the Heartless decide to attack. We'll need to lure it somewhere."

Suddenly, they heard the same booming whinny as the wooden fjord rumbled before them and cringed when it sounded much louder and agitated than before, though they did not see anything in the sky due to the dark clouds. That's when they finally noticed something racing out of the clouds and bringing along a hail of sharp icicles descending down with the intent to strike the ground. Thor tightly gripped on the handle of Mjolnir as Max put his goggles on again to scan what the equine creature looks like from afar, to which Fusa remained where she was while watching it as well.

"Guys, this one is a Heartless," the young Knight then alerted to the rest of the party as his gloved fingers adjusted the lenses a few times to get the details of the equine Heartless. "It correlates with what Fandral told us about it: eight legs and a chariot. However, it also has what looks like a helmet and scars on its sides as well."

"Based on what you're saying, Max, this must be a Crooked Chariot," Gus said as he quickly jotted this information down in his journal for a moment. "I thought they existed in Olympus Coliseum, but this is new..."

"We can't stand around any longer guys- it has at least five minutes before it makes impact on the palace!" The Knight then added in alarm, to which this caused concern for the rest of the party members.

"Then we must get it away before it can strike," Thor responded before finding a lone skiff and jumping down from the fjord and landing in it as Fusa and Gus watched him. He brought his attention over to them and gestured to them so that they would join him. "We'll use this to get to the palace gates."

Gus quickly floated down to the skiff to join the Asgardian warrior as Fusa carefully climbed down from the fjord and then barely landed in the hovercraft, even as she sat back against floor upon landing, and Max got off of the fjord to join them. Once Meow Wow teleported from the fjord and joined the Keyblade wielder's side, Thor then took control of the skiff and activated it, hoisting it forward as the rest of the party held on so that they would not fall out. They kept an eye on the Heartless above as it stopped bringing down the hail of icicles, but they noticed that it was starting to get closer to the Asgardian Palace even as the skiff was going as fast as it can.

"Fusa, can you use your powers on it from this distance?" Max then called out to Fusa as he kept his attention on the Crooked Chariot above, something that surprised her when she heard the suggestion.

At first, she was about to question if she could do this before thinking back to when she used them to subdue the Frost Behemoth in Hollow Bastion, to which she summoned her Keyblade and carefully aimed it at the equine Heartless galloping above. Then her eyes glowed followed by her body doing the same as she noticed the outline of its Heart from afar, to which this glow then appeared on the tip of "Gentle Heart". Even as the skiff continued to go at a fast pace, Fusa held onto her concentration and allowed a thin pink beam to shoot out towards the Heartless, causing it to make an agonized whinny and then rapidly fall from the sky, knocking over some monuments and buildings as it was being brought down. The small party noticed that it was making its descent down to the Rainbow Bridge near the palace gates as Thor shifted his weight to force the skiff to curve and directed it to where the golden Front Gates were located, narrowly going by rock formations of the palace's walls and arriving close to the Bridge itself.

"Get ready to disembark, lads!" Gus finally alerted to the other party members before the skiff made a sharp stop on the edge of the Rainbow Bridge, allowing them to quickly get off just as the skiff itself fell backwards into the water.

Once the party and Meow Wow were on the Bridge in front of the Gates, Fusa finally cut off her power on the Crooked Chariot just as it fell, just landing on all eight of its dark blue hooves seemingly made of metal, and widened her eyes upon noticing its tall stature. It huffed as it looked down at the party with empty yellow eyes, shook its head that had a crooked ram horned helmet with its muzzle compressed and covered, and flicked its darker tail with what looks like needles and icicles falling out. Then without warning, it reared up with its four frontal legs kicking with a loud booming whinny, much to the immediate discomfort of Fusa, Max, and Gus as they cringed from the thunderous sound when it happened. However, the small party readied their weapons as Gus flew into Fusa's hoodie for protection as Meow Wow bounded over to her side with its magenta horn directing towards the Crooked Chariot.

"Ready?" Thor then asked Fusa in a low tone as he prepared his hammer and Fusa held her Keyblade.

"I hope so, yeah..." The young Newborn Nobody answered with an uneasy nod as she kept her focus on the Crooked Chariot before the small party and gulped. "I'm going to need that courage..."

**Author's Note:**

> What do you guys think so far? Make sure to leave a message and tell me what you think of it. Thank you very much!


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